Steve Delve

Posted: May 10th, 2012

STEVE Delve, who was with the Sporting Life for 33 years and went on to work for the Racing Post, died in July, 2011 aged 62.

Delve joined the Life in 1966 and was a key member of the Man on the Spot tipping team before becoming a familiar face on the racecourse, not only in his role as a starting price reporter, but also as a passionate jumping enthusiast with shares in winners including Mon Amie and Soeur Fontenail.

He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease shortly before he died suddenly of a heart attack.

Alastair Down, who worked with Delve for many years, described him as “a proper bloke – feisty and fun”.

He added: “I loved him because he was always himself. He was a Life man to his bootstraps. He had a passion for racing, and for gaff tracks and small operators, and he was wonderfully independently minded. He was a thoroughly admirable individual and extremely close to the very heartbeat of the Sporting Life.”

Mick Connaughton, another long-time friend and colleague, said: “I worked with Steve both in the office and out on the track for 30-odd years. We won the naps table together once, with Chris Gundry, on the last day of the season. He was a great bloke, and it’s like losing a brother, not just a friend.”

Steve leaves a wife Diane, and two children, James and Jessica.