Paul Nicholls: Rock, lynchpin, friend - congrats Clifford

Paul salutes an award-winning member of his team as well as paying tribute to another remarkable man...

At Ditcheat, we were all incredibly proud that Clifford was named Employee of the Year and High Achiever at the Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards earlier this week - and it was great for us all that £15,000 of the £35,000 he received goes to the yard.

I would like to personally thank Godolphin for their continued support of these awards, and their generosity. It is really well received by all of the industry.

Clifford has been with me for over 15 years now and, the odd holiday aside, he never has a day off. It may be a cliché but any trainer is only as good as his staff and, headed by Clifford, there is none better in my opinion. A great team player and team leader.

I don't want to sound too dramatic but Clifford, all 51 years of him, is my rock. Always there at the stables to meet any issues, and solve any problems, when Dan and I are away at the races.

We are all friends and work well as a unit, and this was underlined by the fact that Dan nominated him for the Godolphin award. Dan deserves a lot of credit for that.

Clifford may be best known for handling Kauto Star but he has overseen the winners of four Gold Cups and I doubt there would be a more valuable man in any yard in the country.

Quite simply he is the lynchpin. He is at the yard at 5:45am every day and sorts out everything that needs to be done, with the feeding and staff.

When I was 19, I went to work for Josh Gifford for three years. And as a workshy youngster and a 7lb claimer, it was a real eye-opener, I can tell you.

And the fact that over 800 people turned out for his memorial on Thursday tells you all you need to know; he was a great man and a loved one, too.

I rode some decent winners for Josh but my abiding memory of him is sitting and watching him fish and chips in the car coming back from the races.

For someone who struggled with their weight, and was often starving himself to ride the next day, the sight and smell was pure hell for me.

But I am pretty sure Josh was looking down on the racing at Newbury today from heaven.

He was truly a great man.

Paul Nicholls / 3 Mar 2012