THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE DRIVE TO DONCASTER


"Cor !  Did you see THAT? I bet he was over the speed limit."

"It's OK - I got his number..."

 

Copyright Valerie Martin 2000

In the Findon horse-racing world the Captain had a blunt manner, irascible temper and, I am told, usually uttered rapidly fired commands. He did not expect to be questioned on any account. It was said that his bark was worse than his bite — but some of his language was unsuitable for the ladies of the village to hear.

I have been told how on a certain occasion a young stable girl fell off her horse and lay on the ground and couldn't mount her steed again.    Ryan Price threw out a few of his fruity sentences of encouragement containing the f--- word.   Quickly followed by —

"Throw your tits over and the rest will follow".

 

Captain Ryan Price leading his string of racehorses along the A24 at Findon on a snowy morning.

I did not live in Findon in those days but I am told that the master of Downs Stables appeared to be always busy and, therefore, constantly in a hurry. The community respected him and forgave him for his brusqueness. They admired him for his clever horse-racing skills, especially when they had backed his winners, of course.

Elderly residents often discovered an extra fiver tucked in their pockets after having a drink with the Captain at the Gun Inn. If there was a charity function in the village, a case of champagne would magically be delivered on the doorstep before the day.

He played golf and his opponents say he was quite a character on the course. 

 

11th March 2005.

Ryan Price

It is not good manners to speak ill of the dead and I will have to temper my comments on Captain Price accordingly.  Those who knew him will tell you he was no saint !

My mother worked for him and I used to spend a lot of the time in the big house which to me seemed like a palace.  I have only ever heard one person swear more than the Captain and that was his wife.

He certainly treated the horses better than his staff who lived in terror of him and were paid a pittance.

He was without doubt a superb horseman.  I remember hearing of a horse going crazy in the parade ring once and the Captain bravely running across the ring to get it under control.

He was highly controversial in the racing and betting world and was often being investigated.  He was of course eventually banned for cheating the betting public by holding his horses up.

He contributed very little to the village considering he made a very good living out of it, nearly all his staff came from outside Sussex.

We had a French stable lad living with us who spoke no English at all.  He once famously turned on the gas water heater in our house before spending twenty minutes looking for some matches.   Upon ignition he was blown straight down the stairs.   Being a young stable lad he was pretty tough and survived.   Captain Price paid him ten shillings (50 pence) a week for a seven day week.

Nobody complained in those days !

Lawrie May

 

Lawrence May, Antigua, West Indies.

 

 

July 1971, was not a good month for the Captain.  It was to go down as Black July.   He was taken to court and disqualified from driving for six months after pleading guilty to speeding and exceeding the 70 m.p.h. limit imposed on the A24 bypass. He subsequently received a fine of £20 for this offence and, as it was his third motoring conviction in the past three years, he was duly banned from driving his Mercedes-Benz car.

The Findonians of the day didn't raise an eyebrow but the court was silent as it heard how he had raced at an astonishing 90 and 95 m.p.h. from his stables in Findon to Doncaster.  He had apparently allowed himself barely four hours to undertake the journey to a race meeting he was attending.   My guess is that he arrived in time.

Continue if you would like to read The Downside of Being a Racing Village.

 Back to Racing Stables Index
 Back to Main Index

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

 

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com