Sir Henry Cecil, one of the most influential and successful figures in horse racing of all time, has died at the age of 70. Sir Henry trained 36 classic winners both in the UK and abroad, winning the Derby four times and the Oaks an even more impressive eight times. His greatest achievement however, must be guiding the legendary Frankel to a breathtaking 14 from 14. Even taking Frankel aside, Cecil trained two horses that won Triple Crowns; Oh So Sharp won the Fillies Triple Crown, and Le Moss winning Alternative Triple Crown. Born Henry Richard Armherst Cecil on January 11, 1943, he grew up in the home of his stepfather trainer Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, in Newmarket. Following his stepfather into horse training, and at the age of 25, finished 8th in the trainers table in his debut season at the age of 25. By the age of 33 his talent with horses become well known: Cloonagh, trained in the family by his half brother, won the Irish 100 Guineas. If that was impressive, he surpassed it two years later, when against all odds Bolkonski won the 2000 Guineas in the UK, winning his first domestic classic. By 1976 he was crowned champion trainer (a feat he would achieve ten more times in his career), and in the same year he would purchase the now iconic Warren Place, where he still trained his horses until this morning. With his success both here and in Ireland cemented, the next few years saw Warren Place being the place to be, with horse racing's brightest and best owners coming to Cecil with their horses. By 1985 he had his first Derby winner in the form of Slip Anchor, and arguably more impressive with hindsight, Oh So Sharp won the Fillies Triple Crown. The Triple Crown in British flat-racing involves a horse winning 1,000 Guineas Stakes, Epsom Oaks and St. Leger Stakes. This means a horse has to win over 1 mile, 1 mile four furlongs and 1 mile six furlongs. Most horses will be good over a certain distance, maybe even have a range (Frankel only ever raced from 7 furlongs to 1 mile 2). So, for a horse to win the Triple Crown, it needs to have the speed to win over 1 mile and also the stamina to win over the longer races as well (think Usain Bolt winning the 100m, 200m and 400m in one season). Such is the achievement of the feat, no horse has won either the Fillies Triple Crown or the Triple Crown since Oh So Sharp; although Camelot came second in the last leg to Encke, the 2012 St. Leger winner who has recently failed a drugs test. He dominated racing then for the following years, with Reference Point, Bosra Sham, Commander in Chief and Snow Bride all winnings classics in the next nine years. However in 1995 his success came to an abrupt halt, with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed leaving Cecil's yard, along with other prominent owners. Cecil spent many years in the wilderness of horse racing and was relying heavily on the horses of Khalid Abdullah. By 2006, Cecil revealed he was suffering from stomach cancer. However, when Light Shift won the Oaks in 2007, Cecil ended his seven year wait for another classic winner. It was then, in 2010, when Khalid Abdullah's Frankel began his 14 race unbeaten streak. After romping home by a staggering 6 lengths in the 2000 Guineas (Cecil's 25th and final UK Classic), Frankel went on to win the St James's Palace Stakes, Sussex Stakes, and Queen Elizabeth II. The horse, considering the best racehorse of all time, was expected to be put out to stud after his three year stint in racing, but Cecil surprised everyone when Frankel came back in 2012 and won five more races, finishing with the Champion Stakes at Ascot. Frankel is now being put to stud, with only the best horses being chosen to breed with him, and even then, Frankel commands a fee of £125,000. Sir Henry rose to the top, fell down again, and then rose to heights beyond any seen in horse racing. With his handling of Frankel, Sir Henry introduced a superstar to not only horse racing but the entire sporting world, meaning his name is well known in houses up and down the country. Cecil told the Daily Telegraph once: 'I do everything by instinct really, not by the book. I like to think I've got a feeling for and understand my horses, that they tell me what to do really'. A modest man, and one of only five men in horse racing to be knighted, Cecil fought cancer to continue to train his horses in his later years. Sir Henry Cecil will long be remembered for more than being the trainer of the greatest horse of all time; he will be remembered as one of the greatest men in not only horse racing, but sport as whole.