Racing: Jeremy Tree dies

JEREMY TREE, the trainer of four Classic winners and of the 1985 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe victor, Rainbow Quest, died on Sunday night. He was 67 and had been in poor health for some time.

Tree, who retired at the end of the 1989 Flat season, notably maintained the high standards that had been set at Beckhampton stables, near Marlborough in Wiltshire, by the greatest trainers of their time, Fred Darling and Sir Noel Murless.

Roger Charlton, Tree's former assistant and his successor at Beckhampton, said: 'It goes without saying that he had a great influence on my life. No man could have been kinder. He was always associated with the yard and still lived here, but he would never offer advice, only if asked for it.'

Tree was instrumental in the success of Prince Khalid Abdullah, for whom he trained the 1980 2,000 Guineas winner Known Fact, as well as Rainbow Quest. The prince's racing manager, Grant Pritchard-Gordon, said: 'He was among the very best trainers. Everything he did was top class.'

Pat Eddery partnered many of Tree's winners. 'I had been riding for him since I was an apprentice,' he said. 'He trained many very good horses but Rainbow Quest stood out as one of the best.'

Obituary, page 17