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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
THE DRIVE TO DONCASTER
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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".
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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 ! He certainly treated the horses better than his staff
who lived in terror of him and were paid a pittance. 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. 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.
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE —
www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
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