The Horses of My Life - Softcover

Dunwoody, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844548945 ISBN 13: 9781844548941

Publisher: John Blake, 2010

Synopsis

Richard Dunwoody was the most successful steeplechase jockey of his time. He rode over 10,000 times, often partnering the top National Hunt horses such as Desert Orchid. In this wonderful book, Dunwoody remembers the great horses he has ridden and the high points of his remarkable career. He has ridden to victory in the Grand National and won two consecutive King George VI chases. In a book full of stories, anecdotes, and opinions, Richard tells not only of the glory but also of the struggle involved in achieving the victories. This enthralling book, packed with wonderful pictures, offers a unique insight into a world of fine sportsmen, beautiful horses, and great moments of glory.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Dunwoody is an ex-jockey who was Champion Jockey three times.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Horses of My Life

By Richard Dunwoody

John Blake Publishing Ltd

Copyright © 2005 Richard Dunwoody/Marcus Armytage
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84454-894-1

Contents

Title Page, 
Dedication, 
Acknowledgements, 
Preface, 
1 WEST TIP, 
2 DESERT ORCHID, 
3 CHARTER PARTY, 
4 VERY PROMISING, 
5 KRIBENSIS, 
6 WAT6ERLOO BOY, 
7 HIGHLAND BUD AND FLATTERER, 
8 MOR8LEY STREET, 
9 FLORIDA PEARL AND DORAN'S PRIDE, 
10 REMITTANCE MAN, 
11 RUSHING WILD, 
12 MIINNEHOMA, 
13 FLAKEY DOVE, 
14 ALDERBROOK, 
15 SOUND MAN, 
16 IT'S A SNIP, 
17 VIKING FLAGSHIP, 
18 ONE MAN, 
Picture acknowledgements, 
About the Author, 
Copyright, 

CHAPTER 1

WEST TIP

Most successful jockeys can pick out one horse, and often one particular race on that horse, that did more than any other to give their fledgling careers a lift off the ground. This is the horse that, so to speak, got the jockey's name changed from chalk to paint on racecourse number boards. The horses are not always famous nor necessarily brilliant. For John Francome it was a little black horse trained by Fred Winter called Osbaldeston, with whom he won seventeen races. The first really good horse Peter Scudamore was associated with was the hurdler Broadsword; but Scu believes his career was helped on its way by a horse called Rolyat, trained by Toby Balding, who also gave a number of other successful jockeys, including the starter Brian Reilly, their first winners. For it was Rolyat who had the distinction of being the first horse – point-to-pointers apart – to carry Scu past the winning post in front. Adrian Maguire, who was already establishing a name for himself in Irish point-to-points, came to the attention of the British and indeed wider Irish racing public when he rode Omerta to victory in the Fulke Walwyn/Kim Muir Challenge Cup Chase for Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival in 1991. For good measure he rode Omerta in the Irish National at Fairyhouse a month later, beating the Irish champion jockey Charlie Swan and Cahervillahow a short head, which launched his career. Tony McCoy believes it was a couple of wins over fences on the former champion hurdler Beech Road as a conditional jockey that really began to establish him as a name to be reckoned with in National Hunt racing. The fact that Toby Balding had let such an inexperienced jockey loose on the horse, who had never been as smooth or as successful a chaser as he had over hurdles, was advertisement enough for the young McCoy's talents.

Looking back, the first horse that really set me on the way was West Tip. I was asked to ride him at the tail end of his novice season in 1984 when he ran in the Midlands National at Uttoxeter. He went on to jump 172 Aintree fences (142 with me on board), falling at just one of them – when he was leading over Becher's Brook on the second circuit in 1985, the first time he ran in the race. His Grand National Record – a win, a second and two fourths in six runs – is a remarkable one and makes him the most successful Aintree horse since Red Rum a decade earlier. What is more, he was so clever I don't think he ever returned home from Aintree with a scratch or cut on him. It would have been a thrill to have ridden West Tip at any stage of my career, but to a young, naïve professional, just out of the amateur ranks and still pretty wet behind the ears, he was a real gift.

The West Tip story nearly came to an end before it had truly started. One foggy morning he was out at exercise from the yard of his trainer Michael Oliver at a vi

Edition details

• Publisher: John Blake
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844548945
• ISBN 13: 9781844548941
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212