One can imagine that a huge win would be the defining moment of any sportsperson’s life… it’s an unfortunate athlete for whom a high-profile failure becomes that moment. But, according to his son, so it was for jockey Dick Francis, who was champion jockey in 1953-1954 before becoming the best-selling author of equestrian novels, such as Dead Cert, Whip Hand and Odds Against.
In an episode of The Slightly Foxed Podcast, Dick’s son Felix talks about the spectacular collapse of Dick’s ride Devon Loch when the Queen Mother’s horse looked nailed on to win the 1956 Grand National.
Felix says: “He was well in front with just 40 yards to go and the horse inexplicably collapsed with its front legs out in front and its back legs out behind.
Devon Loch collapses just 40yds from the line and lands on his belly. Credit: Alamy
“I was three years old at the time and it’s a bit of a surprise to me that I ever made it to my fourth birthday, because, according to my mother, I would scamper across the sitting room floor, throw my hands out in front and legs out the back, and say, ‘I’m being Devon Loch, down I go, bump’ which is probably not the most tactful thing for a three-year-old.
“But in later life, my father admitted that he probably owed more to Devon Loch’s collapse than if the horse had won.”
The following January, Dick Francis had a bad fall, fracturing his wrist and rupturing his spleen. He had hoped to ride Devon Loch in the 1957 Grand National, but then the horse pulled a tendon and the jockey decided it was time to retire. He announced this live on television and was asked what he was going to do next.
“And Dad said, ‘Well, I’ve half written my autobiography. I’ll finish that and see what develops.’ And John Junor, who was editor of the Sunday Express in London, obviously heard this and he got in touch with my father and said, ‘Well, if you’ve half written your autobiography you must be able to put a few words together. Would you write half a dozen articles for my newspaper?’
“And that’s how it all started, because those half dozen articles went on for 16 years full employment. He never missed a deadline.”
A Hollywood producer would say, ‘It never happened’
Racing commentator Derek ‘Tommo’ Thompson joins Felix on the episode and says although he was only five-and-a-half years old at the time, he will never forget watching Dick Francis and Devon Loch in the race on television.
Derek says: “If you went to a Hollywood producer, said, ‘Hey, I’ve got this story about this horse who’s going to win the greatest race in the world, owned by the Queen Mother, and then it collapses 40 yards from the finish’, the producer would say, ‘Don’t be stupid. It never happened.’ It did. It actually did. And how must the Queen Mother have felt watching, cheering the horse, and the whole country cheering the horse home, a royal winner?”
Felix goes on: “I must have watched it 1,000 times. I just wish he’d win it once, you know? But the horse pricks his ears just before he comes towards the water jump and – because it was the royal horse, it was not that long after the war, it was certainly not that long after the Queen Mother had been widowed, she was the most popular person in the world, almost certainly in our country – as Derek says, everyone was cheering.
“And my father says that when the horse pricked his ears, that wall of noise hit the horse and just for a fraction of a second, it frightened him. That was enough and down he went.
Dick Francis and Devon Loch both walk away from the fall. Credit: Alamy
“My father had to get off the horse. The horse had pulled all the muscles in his legs and my father was walking up towards the grandstand and he could see this mass of people running towards him for a post mortem. What the hell had happened?
“An ambulance came up the track and the driver wound down his window and he said, ‘Hop in the back, mate.’ And my father said he’d never been so pleased in his life to get in an ambulance.
“The ambulance took him round to the weighing room and then Peter Cazalet, who was the horse’s trainer, came in and said to my father, ‘Well, we’d better go and see the royal party. Dad thought he was going to get sent to the Tower. He went down and there was The Queen and the Queen Mother, my father and Peter Cazalet, just the four of them.
“And the Queen Mother said, ‘Well, what happened, Dick?’ And he said, ‘Well, I really don’t know. The horse didn’t jump, it wasn’t as if he jumped a shadow.’ There wasn’t any sunshine on that day. And the Queen Mother looked at him and said, ‘Well, Dick, that’s racing.’ And, my goodness, it was and it actually cemented a lifelong friendship between the Queen Mother and my father.”
On the podcast, Felix also talks about how his father Dick Francis and mother Mary worked together on the books, how he took over writing thrillers in his father’s style and delivering copies to the royal family.
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