Stormin' Noiman just refuses to be beaten and has shrugged off disappointments to be one of the leading jump jockeys.

Williamson lost the booking on Looks Like Trouble just weeks before the horse went on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March 2000.

The horse had performed badly with him riding in the King George VI Chase three months earlier.

And Richard Johnson replaced Williamson to take Gold Cup glory.

But Williamson bounced back just weeks later with a stirring performance aboard Mely Moss in the Grand National.

He looked in with a chance of winning on the 25-1 chance, trained by Charlie Egerton, but had to settle for second behind Papillon.

Williamson's career is littered with big-race victories, and Looks Like trouble aside, the Cheltenham Festival has generally proved a happy hunting ground.

He was leading rider at the 1995 meeting with four winners.

The haul included a Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double for trainer Kim Bailey on Alderbrook and Master Oats.

But he later parted company with Bailey after Press reports linked him with the trainer's wife.

Williamson went on to form a successful new partnership with trainer Venetia Williams.

They landed both the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup and King George VI Chase with Teeton Mill in 1998.

But the horse, which looked set to be one of the leading chasers of recent times, pulled up with a serious injury in the Gold Cup and was later retired.

In January 2001 he won the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham for the third successive year on Lady Rebecca.