WILLIE CARSON enjoyed one of his finest moments in racing on Saturday when Jack Hobbs – a horse he bred at his Minster Stud on the outskirts of Cirencester – raced away with the Irish Derby at the Curragh.

Jack Hobbs, who had finished runner-up in the Derby at Epsom three weeks earlier, collected a first prize of 1.25million euros in the 150th running of Ireland’s richest race.

Carson, 72, had a stellar career on the track winning the jockeys’ title on five occasions, the Derby three times and riding regularly for Her Majesty the Queen.

He rode Irish Derby winners – Troy and Salsabil – along with a host of other big race wins around the world.

And he has succeeded in virtually everything he has turned his hand to since retiring from the saddle, becoming a popular TV pundit for BBC racing where he formed a famous double act with Clare Balding, and also winning the reality TV show I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here in 2011. For six seasons he was chairman of Swindon Town FC.

As a racehorse owner he was a partner in the ill-fated Chriselliam who won a Breeders’ Cup race in 2013.

But in terms of satisfaction he puts this latest success right at the top.

"He's the best horse I have ever bred – without a doubt," said Carson, who selects all the matings for his elite band of 15 broodmares based on his 160-acre stud at Barnsley in the Cotswolds.

"It is much better to breed them than to ride or own them because if it wasn't for me they wouldn't exist."

Jack Hobbs is not Willie's first champion. He made history, while still riding in 1988, when becoming the first jockey to partner a classic winner he had bred when Minster Son triumphed in the St Leger .

Jack Hobbs is already a better horse than Minster Son and could enhance his reputation later in the season when he tackles the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Carson sold the then-unnamed Jack Hobbs (by stallion Halling out of the mare Swain’s Gold) at the Tattersalls Yearling Sales in 2013 for 60,000 guineas.