Foinavon
Page 27
Julian Critchley on colour television – The Times, 3 July 1967.
RCA to begin tube production – The Times, 6 July 1967.
Stan Mellor, ‘He didn’t know …’ – face-to-face interview with author. Mellor had himself chipped three vertebrae in a fall at Newbury three weeks earlier.
Brian Fletcher, ‘In today’s world …’ – telephone interview with author. Fletcher acknowledged after the 1968 race that he had been ‘glad to get over the 23rd without any trouble’ (Liverpool Daily Post, 1 April 1968).
David Mould, ‘He didn’t get the trip …’ – telephone interview with author.
Phil Harvey, ‘A hard old ride …’ – telephone interview with author. There was open disagreement about what actually happened in the incident, which took place a stride or two beyond the fence. Sporting Life reported that Foin-avon had fallen ‘bringing down Ronald’s Boy and Bassnet’. But this prompted Foinavon’s co-owner, Mac Bennellick, to ring the newspaper up on Monday, 1 April to assert that it was Bassnet who had fallen and brought down Foin-avon. The newspaper approached Alec Kilpatrick, Bassnet’s trainer, who said Bassnet landed perfectly at the water, took one stride, at which point Foinavon ran into him. Sporting Life published a short story on the exchange on 2 April, concluding, ‘Well they say no two people ever report the same incident in the same way – you pays your money and you takes your choice.’
Hemsley’s bucket – face-to-face interview with author.
Andrew Wates, ‘Like being catapulted …’ – Telephone interview with author.
Chapter 28
Four mares in every five … – the Irish Field of 18 May 1968 wrote as follows, ‘In covering season 1966, when 23, the 44 mares who visited him returned a fertility rate of 81.08 per cent … He was champion National Hunt sire in three of the last four seasons, his stock winning 164 races value £173,539 in those years.’
Dermot Whelan, ‘His hock was shaking …’ – face-to-face interview with author. Of 89 horses listed in the 1968 obituary of stallions, only nine were older than Vulgan and three the same age.
A month after the 1968 Grand National, Foinavon had run for the one and only time at Teesside Park. He fell, though on this occasion jockey Phil Harvey reports that he was going well. ‘He was running with enthusiasm and his jumping was brilliant,’ he told me. Even where he came down, he jumped the fence ‘perfectly’, but crashed to the ground on landing. ‘He hit the deck as if he had dropped dead,’ Harvey says.
‘Foinavon’s first …’ – Sporting Life, 19 September 1968.
‘It will probably be …’ – Sporting Life, 25 September 1968.
Duels with Honey End – Foinavon had also come off second-best in the pair’s first meeting, at Devon & Exeter on 3 August 1966.
‘Foinavon had a poor season… ’ – Sporting Life, 24 September 1968.
Mistake at the water… – Sporting Life, 25 September 1968.
Gifford’s foot stuck in stirrup – Sporting Life, 25 September 1968.
Deciding when to stop – Gifford, who retired at 28 only two years after he was last champion, is one of those who probably did get it right. This followed a typically blunt conversation with his trainer, Ryan Price, which ended with the two striking a gentlemen’s agreement for Gifford to take over the yard.
Anne, Duchess of Westminster, ‘Not even Arkle… ’ – Arkle – the Classic Story of a Champion, Ivor Herbert, Aurum Press 2003, page 206. Foinavon’s old stable companion was denied a long retirement, succumbing to arthritis, or an arthritis-like condition, on 31 May 1970.
Mill House was retired in January 1970.
Foinavon found lame at Wincanton – Sporting Life, 5 October 1968.
Admiral Pennant declared to run in three races – Sporting Life, 12 October 1968.
Admiral Pennant impedes his rivals – Sporting Life, 14 October 1968. Notwithstanding this report, John Buckingham has no recollection of a loose horse being involved.
John Buckingham, ‘The crowd were going mad… ’ – face-to-face interview with author.
Chapter 29
Vincent O’Brien, ‘A horse is like a car …’ – Great Racehorse Trainers, Tim Fitzgeorge-Parker, Pelham Books, 1975, page 101. O’Brien won a hat-trick of Grand Nationals between 1953 and 1955 and much else besides before transferring his attentions solely to the Flat.
Nijinsky – winner of the English Triple Crown (2,000 Guineas, Derby, St Leger) in 1970.
Popham Down had won the race in 1964 and 1965, and finished third in 1966 in a running won by Kilburn.
Domacorn – Winner’s Disclosure, Terry Biddlecombe with Pat Lucas, Stanley Paul, 1982, pages 133–4.
‘Putting up the price of Christmas’ – The Times, 23 November 1968.
John Buckingham and Spanish Steps – Tales from the Weighing Room, John Buckingham, Pelham Books, 1987, page 38. Spanish Steps, who had the misfortune to run up against horses of the calibre of Red Rum, L’Escargot and Crisp at Aintree, nonetheless notched up two fourths and a third in the Grand National between 1973 and 1975. He duly won that afternoon at Ascot. John ‘Jack’ Cook, who rode the outsider Ross Sea in Foinavon’s National in 1967, won the race four years later aboard Specify in a particularly tight finish. He died in 1999.
Buckingham, ‘It broke my heart’ – telephone interview with author.
Breakthrough year for Pitman – on 10 January 1969, he edged out David Mould and Terry Biddlecombe by a short head and a head respectively on a horse called Soloning in a big hurdle race at Newbury. ‘I felt I had arrived,’ he wrote. In March, he partnered Steel Bridge to second place in the National.
Pitman’s ‘incredibly hard’ ride – face-to-face interview with author.
‘Geordie’ Mawson taken by surprise – telephone interview with author.
Persian War – winner of a hat-trick of Champion Hurdles between 1968 and 1970.
John Buckingham, ‘He jumped the water …’ – interviews with author.
Chapter 30
Foinavon’s ‘grazing hours’ with Seas End – Daily Express, 4 April 1970.
Colin Hemsley, ‘If you give a racehorse …’ – face-to-face interview with author.
Details of upheaval at the yard and Foinavon’s final months gathered from interviews with Hemsley and John and Trish Kempton.
John Kempton, ‘We had the bright idea…’ – face-to-face interview with author.
Kempton, ‘We went from…’ – face-to-face interview with author.
Hemsley answers a knock on his door – face-to-face interview with author.
‘Geordie’ Mawson, ‘He was the type of horse…’ – telephone interview with author.
Mawson, ‘I got him out very quickly …’ – telephone interview with author.
Mawson, ‘I always believed …” – telephone interview with author.
John Buckingham, ‘Almost a sacred place …’ – Tales from the Weighing Room, John Buckingham, Pelham Books, 1987, pages 74 and 56.
Tiggy Partridge, ‘Quite a recluse …’ – telephone interview with author.
Partridge/Aubin on auction of Yew Tree Farm – telephone interview with author.
‘The Great Pools Swindle’ – News of the World, 25 March 1973.
Michael Litchfield, Bennellick ‘quite shabbily dressed’ – telephone interview with author.
Bennellick’s Ashford farm and details of later life – exchange of emails with Chris Compton, Bennellick’s daughter-in-law.
Grand National trophy – thanks chiefly to the efforts of Jane Clarke, the course’s Grand National historian, this is now at Aintree minus its original green base.
Limit on size of National field – since 1984, the maximum has been forty runners and pressure was building at time of writing to have this reduced further.
Appendix A – Field for the 1967 Grand National
Appendix B – Timeform Rating of the 44 Runners
1. What a Myth 167
2. Freddie 163
3. Anglo 158
4. Kilburn 156
5. Different Class 155
6. Kapeno 152
7. Bassnet 151
8. Solbina 150
9. Rondetto 150?
10. Rutherfords 147
11. Limeking 145
12.= Forecastle 144
Greek Scholar 144
14. Honey End 143
15.= The Fossa 142
Meon Valley 142
17. Castle Falls 137
18.= Kirtle Lad 135
Norther 135
20. Red Alligator 132
21.= Dorimont 131
Game Purston 131
23. Packed Home 130?
24. April Rose 129
25.= Aussie 128
Popham Down 128
27. Princeful 127
28. Vulcano 125
29. Leedsy 124
30. Penvulgo 123
31. Border Fury 122
32. Ronald’s Boy 120
33.= Barberyn 117
Dun Widdy 117
FOINAVON 117
Scottish Final 117
Tower Road 117
38. Quintin Bay 113
39. Steel Bridge 110
40. Bob-a-Job 99
Lucky Domino ?
Ross Sea ?
Aerial III –
Harry Black –
(Taken from Timeform Black Book – National Hunt Edition – 1966/67 season, No. 26. Unadjusted for handicap.)
Appendix C – Result of 1967 Grand National, Aintree 8 April 1967 over 4 miles and 856 yards
Winner Foinavon J. Buckingham 100/1
2nd Honey End J. Gifford 15/2F
3rd Red Alligator B. Fletcher 30/1
4th Greek Scholar T. Biddlecombe 20/1
5th Packed Home T. Carberry
6th Solbina E. Harty
7th Aussie F. Shortt
8th Scottish Final Mr B. Howard
9th What a Myth P. Kelleway
10th Kapeno Mr N. Gaselee
11th Quintin Bay J. Cullen
12th Bob-a-Job C. Young
13th Steel Bridge E. Prendergast
14th Castle Falls S. Hayhurst
15th Ross Sea J. Cook
16th Rutherfords J. Leech
17th Freddie P. McCarron
18th Game Purston K. White
Winner’s time: 9 mins 49.4 secs
Appendix D – Poem sent to Foinavon after the race
This handwritten poem was received by Foinavon’s trainer John Kempton after the race.
1967 Grand National by Carol Mills & Sally Williams
Four and forty chasers
Stand on Aintree’s grass
Honey End and Freddie
And here comes Different Class
They’re under starter’s orders
And now they are away
To face the biggest fences
In the land today
The first fence, and two horses fall
The crowd shout, “Bassnet’s gone”
Meon Valley’s down as well
The rest go racing on
They come to mighty Becher’s Brook
All jumping very well
Then they come to Valentine’s
Where lots of horses fell
And now they’re round the Chair again
They’re racing past the stand
With brilliant colours flashing by
O isn’t this race grand!
The next fence is the twenty third
Two leading horses stop
Brave Rutherfords and Kirtle Lad
Go crashing through the top
Their riders though have hit the ground
And many others too
Horses, jockeys everywhere
Not one of them is through
But who’s this in the distance
Who was so far behind?
Foinavon is the horse’s name
No winning chance in mind
He jumps and clears the others
And on his way he plods
His jockey, Jonny Buckingham
Is praying to the gods
The winning post has come in sight
Foinavon still is clear
No other horse can catch him now
The race’s end is near
Four and forty chasers
Scattered round the course
Foinavon is the winner
Oh! What a lucky horse!
Appendix E – Foinavon Race Record (by year)
Key: F – Flat; B – Bumper; H – Hurdles; S/C – Steeplechase.
Acknowledgements
More than 200 people, as I now realise, have helped to make this book. The vast majority are identified in the notes accompanying the text, but to some I owe a special debt.
Those closest to Foinavon were especially generous with the time they allotted me. John and Trish Kempton twice invited me into their home to leaf through their scrapbooks and probe their memories. Clifford Booth, Frank and Joan Whittle, Geoff Stocker, Jill Hemsley and Joy Smith all provided indispensable details and valuable insight. Colin Hemsley filled in the minutiae of day-to-day life at a small racing yard and fielded countless questions.
For details of the horse’s early life in Ireland, I am indebted to John and Jill McCormack, and also Jim Dreaper, who allowed me free access to the famous yard near Dublin where Foinavon once kept company with Arkle and Ben Stack. Peter McLoughlin, one of just four men who knew what it was like to ride the horse to victory, was a generous and knowledgeable guide during that visit. Dermot Whelan, who knew Foinavon’s celebrated sire Vulgan as well as any man, performed a similar service at the Blackrath Stud, where the Grand National winner was conceived.
For fleshing out the characters of those who owned Foinavon at the time of his great day at Aintree, I am especially grateful to four people: Chris Compton, Paul Nixon, Lyn Shelton and Zelda Blackadder.
I was privileged to meet, talk to, or correspond with around 50 former jockeys, including 25 who rode in that unforgettable 1967 Grand National. All responded graciously to my inquiries and almost all contributed something I could not have gleaned elsewhere. I wish to thank every one of them, not least those for whom that grey afternoon in Liverpool holds little by way of happy memories. If I may single out just two: the late, great Josh Gifford devoted an evening in front of a crackling fire to reminiscing about Findon and life with Captain Ryan Price; and Foinavon’s best-remembered jockey, John Buckingham – in whose village I came, by chance, to live in the early 1990s – talked me through each one of his rides on the horse that catapulted him into the limelight, with the help of his meticulously kept rider’s logbook.
Ossie Dale filled me in on life behind the scenes at Aintree in the 1960s, while Ray and Muriel Lakeland explained the trials and tribulations of outside broadcasts in what was still a pioneering age for television. Guy Thibault supplied details of Vulgan’s early years in France.
I am no horse-racing specialist, so the help of a number of experts has been fundamental to this attempt to tell Foinavon’s story. Brough Scott and Sir Peter O’Sullevan, two of our foremost racing authorities, were kindness itself whenever I approached them, supplying much invaluable background information. Grand National historian John Pinfold most generously allowed extended access to vital research materials as well as contributing a vivid eye-witness account of Foinavon’s race. Tim Cox also helped with research and allowed me the run of his magnificent library. Mick Mutlow and Jane Clarke provided invaluable facts and figures. Chris Pitt, a writer and enthusiast who knows far more about the National than I ever shall, helped with contacts, context and confirmation of obscure details that were proving hard to verify, as well as an invitation to the Midlands Grand National Club. Pitt’s book, Go Down to the Beaten, was also a valuable source.
A wealth of historical Grand National footage, some of which was very helpful to me, is available to view (or indeed buy) at www.britishpathe.com.
I am also particularly grateful to Scott Bowers of
the Jockey Club, Phil Turner of Timeform and Bruce Millington of the Racing Post, as well as staff of the British newspaper library at Colindale, the Liverpool Record Office and the R.E. & G.B. Way bookshop near Newmarket.
Among the many others who responded more considerately to my inquiries than I had any right to expect were: Isabelle Jekey, Kara McCulloch, Georgina Galt, Capt. Charles Radclyffe, Toby Balding, Peter Chapman, Vincent Slevin, Derek Thompson, Julian Thick, Rob Marriott, Kieran O’Donnell, Anne Collyer, Edward Saunders, Raymond Deacon, John de Moraville, Patrick Foley, Graham Budd, Randy Reynolds, Phil Prosser, Richard Church and Louise Martin.
Notwithstanding this army of contributors, mistakes are, I fear, inevitable and responsibility for them is, of course, mine.
I would like to thank the team at Bloomsbury – including Holly MacDonald, Phil Beresford, Julian Flanders, Emily Sweet, Nick Humphrey, Helen Flood, Ellen Williams and, most of all, Charlotte Atyeo – for their sound advice and for making my long-harboured ambition to publish this book reality. Two other individuals played critical roles. One is my agent David Luxton; the other, Matthew Engel, former editor of the Wisden Sports Writing imprint, who backed the idea from the outset and whose kindness extended to casting his inimitable writerly eye over parts of the text, for which special thanks.
Finally, thank you to Duncan Mackay and Sarah Bowron, the nearest thing I have these days to journalistic employers, for their patience throughout the protracted business of composition. And of course to Edi and Molly for love and forbearance during long hours in the rat-hole.
Oh, and not forgetting Foinavon, John Kempton’s funny horse.
Image Section
Courtesy of Jill McCormack
Foinavon as a yearling, Pallasgreen, County Limerick. The horse’s breeder, Timothy H. Ryan, stands in the background.