John Francome was a successful national hunt jockey, who has now transitioned into a popular racing presenter. Born in Decmber 1952 in Wiltshire, Francome is one of those who found racing ‘the hard way’. There was no line of jockeys, trainers or owners in his family, it was a case of finding his own way through luck as much as anything else – because he didn’t have an instant interest in racing, it was more about making ends meet.

 

 

“I’d done a bit of work in a car repair factory, but he advertised for stable lads and I went along. If it hadn’t worked out I’d have gone back to working on cars or a career in building. It was just that Lambourn was close to where I lived in Swindon, so off I went at 16. I’d have struggled to name a jockey, I just wasn’t interested. ” recalled Francome earlier this year.

 

Starting out as an apprentice for Fred Winter, it was quickly clear that Francome had an aptitude for the sport of horse racing. This quickly led to him becoming one of the most successful national hunt jockeys there ever was (even though a Grand National win remained sadly elusive for him). Memorable wins include a Cheltenham Gold Cup victory in 1978 on  the heavily backed Midnight Court. In total he racked up 1138 wins over his career and was Champion Jockey on a multitude of occasions.

 

Following his successeful career in racing, Francombe went on to present for Channel 4. This enabled him to keep in the mix and a part of something that played such an important part of his life for so long. Now also an author, Francome was awarded an MBE in the mid 80s, which goes to show how respected he is in the sport. Newbury racecourse even named a race after him last year – the John Francome Novices’ Chase.

Richard Johnson, born in Hereford in 1977, is a younger jockey than most I’ve covered of late, and so for some his achievements are still flesh in their thoughts. The National Hunt jockey came fromw hat you could term a ‘racing family’. His father was a jockey, and his Mother, Sue Johnson is a well known horse trainer in her own right. Success for Johnson started young, as racing appears to fits him like a glove.

At age 18 he was Champion Conditional Jockey and this effectively set the tone for the rest of his successful career which still continues today.

 

Some of the stand out wins so far in his career include a 1999 win in the Cheltenham Festival’s Stayers Hurdle aboard Anzum. Further success at Cheltenham were a Cheltenham Gold Cup win the following year and a win in the Queen Mother Champion Chase two years later. There was also success in the Champion Hurdle. Richard Johnson is not shy of royal connections having spend 5 years in a relationship with Zara Phillips over a decade ago.

 

Success at the Cheltenham Festival can be contrasted against a rather unique record in the Grand National. I say unique because while Johnson has riden in the National 20 times in total, which is a record, he also has the record for the most rides in the Grand National without a winner. His best result is second place, experienced twice, once upon What’s Up Boy’s in 2002, and again in 2014 on Balthazar King. I’m sure he doesn’t dwell on this too much though, as perspective is granted by the fact that Johnson by early 2016 had riden a staggering 3000 winners. It’s no surpise then that Richard Johnson has been named Champion Jockey 16 times in his career so far.

 

Nowadays, Timmy Murphy is known, exclusively, as a Flat jockey with a minimum riding weight of 8st 11lb, or thereabouts. However, readers may or may not be aware that prior to switching his attentions to the Flat in 2015, at the age of 40, Murphy was a highly successful, if sometimes controversial, National Hunt jockey. In fact, he rode his first winner, The Real Article, in a National Hunt Flat race at Punchestown in January, 1994. In the next 25 years or so, he racked up over 1,000 winners, including eight at the Cheltenham Festival and, of course, Comply Or Die in the 2008 Grand National.

 

In 2002, Murphy was sentenced to be detained for six months at Her Majesty’s pleasure after pleading guilty to indecent assault on an air stewardess and being drunk on an aircraft. Prior to his arrest, Murphy had ridden 98 winners, but having served 84 days in Wormwood Scrubs and given up drinking, he said, “I am definitely a better jockey for not drinking. A lot more goes through my head. Things are planned out more. I am more aware of things going on around.”

 

Nevertheless, Murphy hit the headlines for the wrong reasons again in November, 2013, when he was banned for nine days after a weighing room altercation with fellow jockey Dominic Elsworth. Murphy dislocated his shoulder during the fracas and, when he did so again in January, 2014, he was ruled out of race riding, pending shoulder surgery. In fact, he did not return to race riding until May, 2015, by which time he had already applied for, and obtained, a licence to ride on the Flat.

 

He rode his first winner in his new capacity, Houdini, in a 6-furlong sprint handicap at Wolverhampton in May, 2015. Winning trainer Jamie Osborne, a former weighing room colleague, said at the time, “It was great for Timmy. I rode with him and he’s always been a phenomenally good rider, a great horseman and jockey and very talented. And, watching the race, I think he didn’t look like he was having his third ride on the Flat.”

 

It’s very easy when talking about talented sportsmen, to get caught up in the present, or who was a legend in the hayday of the sport (which often coincides with the increase in TV coverage) for instance I find though that with that attitude we often miss out of discussing some of the biggest successes in sport. That cerainly applies to races and figures such as Fred Winter who, born in 1926, went on to win just about everything there was to win in National Hunt racing.

 

His accolades include British Jump Jockey Champion (four times) and British Jump Racing Champion Trainer (a staggering 8 times). As his titles suggest he more than made a successful transition from jockey o trainer on account of his racing knowhow. Evenually made a CBE, he quite simply did it all, winning tthe Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdled as both jockey AND trainer, a feat no-one else has ever been able to repeat. He rode over 900 winners in total, drawing the curtain on his illustrius career in 1964 (the year after he was awarded a CBE).

 

While time dims many a light and young racegoers might be unaware of his near endless string of achievements, his name lives on in the form of the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle National Hunt race (run over a distance of about 2 miles and ½ furlongs) that occurs annually during the Cheltenham Festival. The race was first introduced in 2005. During his time in racing, Winter rode upon 17 winners at Cheltenham Festivals, and trained 28. With that in mind, it’s no wonder they still fly his flag high.

Becher’s Brook has the distinction of being the most famous fence in the most famous steeplechase in the world, the Grand National. Even if you have just a passing interest in horse racing, you’ve probably heard of the 4ft 10in fence, notorious for a steep drop on the landing side, which is jumped twice during the Grand National. However, you may not know much about Captain Martin William Becher, after whom the famous fence is named.

 

Born in Norwich in 1797, Becher served as a young man in the Storekeeper-General’s department of the Army and was stationed in Brussels during the Battle of Waterloo. On his return to Britain, he joined the Yeomanry and the courtesy title of ‘captain’ was conferred upon him by the Duke of Buckinghamshire.

 

Becher subsequently became a professional jockey and won the first steeplechase ever run in the vicinity of Liverpool, an ‘unofficial’ version of the Grand National known as the Liverpool Grand Steeplechase, on The Duke in 1836. However, it was not until three years later, during the running of what is generally considered the first ‘official’ Grand National (although the title wasn’t formally adopted until 1846), that Becher reserved his place in racing folklore.

 

In 1839, seventeen horses went to post for the race, supposedly over four miles but actually further, on a course consisting of ploughed fields, banks, ditches, streams and even a loose stone wall. At the sixth fence, a stiff post and rails, Becher’s mount, Conrad, refused, sending Becher flying over his head into the eight foot wide ditch beyond, where he remained until the rest of the field had passed. However, in a characteristic act of derring do, Becher remounted the 20/1 chance and set off in pursuit, only to part company again at the second stream, now known as Valentine’s Brook.

 

Captain Becher reportedly said afterwards that he had not known how ‘dreadful water tastes without whisky in it’. Nevertheless, his exploits caught the public imagination and, by 1840, the most famous steeplechase fence in the world was already known as ‘Becher’s Brook’. The brook itself was filled in 1990 but, despite repeated calls by animal rights’ groups for its removal, along with Valentine’s Brook, The Chair and Canal Turn, the signature fence in the Grand National will hopefully continue to provide a thrilling spectacle for as long as the race itself exists.

 

Captain Becher rode for another eleven years after his Aintree ‘adventure’ and eventually died in 1864, at the age of 67, after a short illness.