Lindsay Charnock, one of Ryedale's most successful jockeys, has been forced to retire from riding after a career spanning 29 years and yielding more than 800 winners worldwide.

The popular Norton pilot has undergone five operations since January on a circulation problem in his groin and has now been told that he can not race-ride again.

The news was broken to Charnock by Harley Street specialist John Wolfe in London on Tuesday. "I was fearing the worst and half-expecting it, but it still comes as a bombshell when it happens," he admitted. "I had hoped to ride until I was 50, but it just wasn't to be. I've effectively been stopped five years early, but it could have been a lot worse. It could have happened when I was 25, which would have been a disaster. At 45, it's disappointing, but at least I've had a career and I feel as though I've achieved something by lasting this long in the game."

Charnock, for so long one of the country's leading lightweight riders, made a belated breakthrough into the big time in recent years and will probably be best remembered for his star-studded association with three top-class fillies from the Tim Easterby stable, Flanders, Pipalong and Jemima, the latter providing him with his first and only - Group-race success when she won the Peugeot Lowther Stakes at York 12 months ago.

"I wouldn't change the last six years for anything," said Charnock. "To be associated with those three fillies was like all my dreams coming true. I think winning the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot on Flanders would have been the highlight. It's the only time in my career I felt pressure, but it was also the only time I ever said to a trainer beforehand, 'Don't worry, this won't let you down.' The nearer we got to the race, the bigger certainty I thought she was."

Charnock also won the Weatherbys Super Sprint at Newbury on Flanders, who, ironically, provided him with what proved to be his final winner.

"It was the very last race on turf of the century at Doncaster last November. I didn't think then, that that would be the last winner I rode," he added.

Charnock's problems began at Southwell on January 7 when he "felt something go in my groin" as his mount exited awkwardly from the stalls. "By the time I'd reached the back straight, my thigh had gone numb and when I got off the horse after the race, my leg went straight from under me."

Charnock paid tribute to surgeon Philip Perry, who carried out his early operations in the Belvedere Hospital in Scarborough. "He did a wonderful job and tried his very best to get me back riding."

In the end, Charnock had to have a plastic artery fitted in his groin and a bypass operation, which crosses the bottom of his stomach.

"Because of the crouching position adopted by jockeys, it would be impossible to continue riding after that operation in case you blocked-off the bypass," he explained.