by David Owen
Foinavon at four in Tom Dreaper’s yard near Dublin with Peter McLoughlin who rode the horse to his second victory at Punchestown in 1964.
Photograph taken by the author
Side by side in the Scottish Highlands, as their equine namesakes once were in Tom Dreaper’s yard (from left to right), Foinaven, Arkle and Ben Stack.
Courtesy of Paul Nixon
Cyril and Iris Watkins. Cyril acquired joint-ownership of Foinavon with his partner Mac Bennellick for 2,000 guineas in October 1965.
© The Sun / NI Syndication
Mac Bennellick (right) talks to journalist Michael Litchfield at the time of the ‘Great Pools Swindle’.
© British Pathé Ltd
Mirabel Topham surveys her Aintree domain. Nothing on the racecourse was done at this time without her approval.
Photograph taken by the author
Wooden model from October 1965 of the ‘Aintree Paddocks’ housing development that might have been built at the racecourse. ‘Somewhere near the location of fence number 12 is a cog-shaped school.’
© Topham Picturepoint/Press Association Images
The Queen Mother (centre) and Princess Margaret (right) in mohair tweed coat, in Liverpool for the 1965 Grand National. It was feared at the time that this might be the last National at Aintree.
Photograph courtesy of Ray and Muriel Lakeland
The BBC’s Ray Lakeland (left) with the ‘Roving-Eye’ – a camera mounted on a station wagon, used to bring viewers spectacular coverage of the race. The tool’s value was enhanced by the skills of Don ‘Mac’ Mackay, its regular operator.
© British Pathé Ltd
Many jockeys face a constant battle to ensure they can ride at the weights prescribed for their mounts. Here, Terry Biddlecombe, who won the 1967 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Woodland Venture, sits in his personal sweatbox, heated by 150-watt bulbs.
© PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images
This scene at the Chair, the Grand National’s biggest fence, captures the brooding atmosphere that hung over Aintree in 1966. Jockey Paddy Cowley sprawls in the foreground having been jettisoned from his mount; Jeremy Speid-Soote (standing, centre) struggles to keep hold of his 100/1 outsider Black Spot.
© British Pathé Ltd
Jockeys Pat McCarron (left, Freddie), Nobby Howard (centre, Scottish Final) and Jack Cook (right, Ross Sea) queue to weigh out for the 1967 Grand National.
First fence drama: in the foreground jockey David Nicholson tumbles from the well-backed Bassnet. Though no one realised at the time, a more significant casualty was the 66/1 shot Popham Down. His rider Macer Gifford can be glimpsed in the act of falling on the extreme left of this photograph.
© British Pathé Ltd
David Nicholson and Bassnet collect their thoughts after an early exit.
© British Pathé Ltd
Disaster strikes at the 23rd as Rutherfords (foreground, sheepskin noseband) slams on the brakes, catapulting jockey John Leech from the saddle. Also in shot (left to right) are the riderless April Rose, Stan Hayhurst on Castle Falls (number 17), Johnny Haine on Rondetto (number 3) and Roy Edwards on Princeful (number 32).
© British Pathé Ltd
John Buckingham and Foinavon approach the Canal Turn, the 24th, in glorious isolation but for three loose horses – Princeful (left), Rondetto (centre) and April Rose (right).
© British Pathé Ltd
© British Pathé Ltd
Jockeys John Lawrence (white and red colours) and Stan Mellor (blue and yellow) are sent flying at the 23rd fence as the race is stopped in its tracks. By the time John Buckingham and Foinavon thread their way through the melee ten seconds later, both riders have dashed to the relative safety of the outside rail.
© PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images
A worried Pat Buckley (left) stands over his floored mount, Limeking, one of the victims of the pile-up at the 23rd fence. Remarkably, the huge horse was unhurt and able to walk back to the stables. ‘I had a look around his legs,’ the jockey recalled. ‘No cuts, nothing.’
© PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images
Moment of victory: on passing the winning-post it looked like all remaining strength drained instantly from jockey John Buckingham’s body
© BBC Sport
The BBC’s David Coleman (left) interviews John Buckingham (centre) and Honey End’s jockey Josh Gifford (right) after the race.
© PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images
Buckingham and Foinavon return in triumph to the winner’s enclosure, led by stable lad Clifford Booth.
Just over an hour earlier at Worcester a similar scene had ensued, with the victorious Three Dons, ridden by Foinavon’s trainer John Kempton, led in by head lad Colin Hemsley.
Guests of honour at a royal palace: holding up traffic on The Mall in central London are (left to right) Hemsley, Buckingham and Foinavon, Kempton, Susie the goat and Booth.
Children in Compton, the Berkshire village where Foinavon’s stable was located, prepare to cheer the Grand National winner on his return home.
A Note on the Author
DAVID OWEN is a former sports editor of the Financial Times and a leading authority on the Olympic movement. He watched the 1967 Grand National on a black-and-white television set as an enthralled seven-year-old and has never forgotten it.
First published in Great Britain in 2013
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © 2013 David Owen
The moral right of the author has been asserted
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eISBN: 978-1-4081-9221-4
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