National Hunt jockey Charlie Poste has announced his retirement from the sport, after almost twenty years in the saddle.
Poste called quits on his career after riding at Uttoxeter on Tuesday night, with his final leg-up on Jacobite Rising in a novice handicap chase, of which he was pulled up.
His best achievement came back in 2011 when guiding Richard Lee's Le Beau Bai to a game success in the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow.
It all began when he left school at the age of fourteen, with his ambitions to becoming a jumps jockey coming to the forefront.
He began riding out at the Lancashire yard of Geraldine Rees but soon found himself switching to Richard Fahey's to compete on the flat alongside the likes of Paul Hanagan and Barry McHugh.
The 35-year-old later rediscovered his dream to become a jumps jockey and posted his best amount of winners in a season in 2007/08 and 2010/11 with twenty-four.
The experienced jockey was left with much to reflect on from the past couple of decades.
(Credit: Racing Post) He said: "I wanted to be a jump jockey all the way through, but as I got older and realised more about money I should've been a Flat jockey!
"Of course I've loved it. It probably hasn't been the career I hoped it would be. Like everyone, you want to be champion jockey and riding big winners every week, and then you have a reality check and realise how hard and competitive the job is.
"Compared to plenty of others, I've had a good career and rode some big winners.
"The Welsh National was the highlight along with the Classic Chase and Grimthorpe, staying-chase wins on horses who probably lacked a gear," he said.
Poste is planning to marry long-time girlfriend Francesca Nimmo in September and already has preferences to devote more time to their pre-training business which will take up most of his time.
He continued: "For the last three or four years we've built up the business, breaking in and pre-training horses for a lot of local people; Olly Murphy, Jonjo O'Neill, Ian Williams, Ben Case and Michael Scudamore among others.
"We also have point-to-pointers to sell and when we moved to the yard we're in we had eight to ten horses and now we have more than 50 a lot of the time. Therefore, the time I've had to ride out and keep busy has become less and less.
"Certainly the last season I've hardly been able to ride out because of the commitment at home.
As a result, Poste admitted that he does not want to become a bit-part player anymore, and subsequently feel out of place in the weighing room.
"Last season I had 75 rides and would turn up in the weighing room feeling like a spare part; if you want to be a successful jockey you have to ride out six, if not seven, days a week for different people and play the game.
"I will miss the riding incredibly. I went round Uttoxeter tonight and thought it was the best thing in the world, but I'd made a decision - from a business point of view - that I no longer want to do the rest of it," he finished.
Here at the Winners Enclosure, we wish Charlie every success with his future endeavours.