Mandy Boy and Bob Champion on their way to winning at Huntingdon.
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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
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THE HORSES OF FRANK H. PULLEN
Copyright Valerie Martin 2002
Frank H. Pullen was big in stature and big in character, as well as being one of racing's colourful good-natured personalities of the day.
He was a Londoner by birth and a cockney. He left school at the age of thirteen and earned a shilling a week feeding horses — and decided he loved them. When he parted company with his army career he decided to renovate old houses for a living and sell them. He made a profit of £200 on his first attempt at Abbey Wood and did not look back from that day. He went on to become a property developer and a millionaire. He was soon able to drive his new BMW down the streets of Catford, Beckenham and Bromley and heartily point to block after block of flats that were "his".
Over the years, Frank owned over thirty horses and never sold one — as other owners do. He always said that he had retired horses dotted all over the country and loved them all.
His racing colours were chocolate and blue. These are also the colours of the Holbeach Elementary School in Catford where he lived. He said that his mother attended the school when it was a mere tin hut. Big, bluff, Frank H. Pullen added that he went to the same school and passed out bottom of his class.
Frank's ambition was to win the Grand National. In 1972 he bought Fair Vulgan on Josh Gifford's recommendation and entered the horse as his first runner in the Grand National. Frank was sure he would stay the course and win the race for him. He was the smallest horse in the field and had come second in the Welsh Grand National after leading almost throughout the race.
The photographs of his horses in action have been supplied to me by Tina Dolding who kindly gave me the information on her grandfather.
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Just Martin winning Windsor in 1983 ridden by Richard Rowe and trained by Bob Champion. |
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Mandy Boy and Bob Champion on their way to winning at Huntingdon.
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Charlotteson with Bob Champion going down to the start before a race. |
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Here are Charlotteson, Bob and a young Josh Gifford.
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Paul Kellaway also rode for Frank. During the 1976 Grand National on 10th April he rode the winner of the Scottish Grand National and Frank's horse, Man On The Moon, ridden by Bob Champion on that occasion, had to be destroyed after a fall in the same race. They had all travelled up to Ayr together and all travelled back together too.
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This is the grey Sire de la Dor with Josh Gifford riding... they won of course.
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I love the name of this next one. It is Rabble Rouser but I am not sure of the date and suggest it may be the early
1970s.
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Rabble Rouser owned by Frank H. Pullen, on the way to winning |
Rabble Rouser won the 1972 Ladbroke Hurdle at Sandown and finished 3rd in the Schweppes Gold Trophy at Newbury two weeks later. Frank had a hefty bet on the double, and had planned to build Doug Barrott, the horse's jockey for these races, a free bungalow if he won both races.
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Frank had the above oil painting executed of Rabble Rouser jumping the last flight at Kempton Park (Ron Atkins up) when he won the Kempton Park Hurdle. The oil painting is hanging on the wall behind Frank sitting at his desk at the top of this page.
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Mannyboy with Frank's son leading him in — this was at Sandown Park, and Mick Stanley had ridden him to win the Fairmile Handicap Chase on 5th February 1977. |
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Don't Shout trained in Findon by Josh Gifford and winning the Oxted Novices Hurdle at Lingfield in 1983, ridden by Peter Double |
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Dont Shout with Richard Rowe up at Windsor. |
When Rabble Rouser retired, I think I am correct in saying he appeared in the Avengers series on the television ridden by Steed.
Jeff King also rode for Frank. John Goodwin my Racing Correspondent told me in September 2002 that Jeff now trains at Broad Hinton just outside Swindon. When riding, Jeff was associated successfully with two household names on the equine front, The Laird and Rondetto, both trained by Bob Turnell.
The Laird was owned by the famous owner Mr Jim Joel, who had all his National Hunt horses trained by Bob.
When Bob died in the early 1980's Mr Joel decided to split the horses up, some staying with Andy Turnell (who had took over from his father) and a number of horses were transferred to Josh Gifford. This started a long and successful association with Findon. Two of the best horses that carried the famous colours of the black jacket and red cap were Door Latch and Ballyhane.
Tina Dolding has told me that Frank owned a pony and trap and would often go for a drink at the
nearest hostelry or just trot along the country lanes, of Cudham and Downe in
Kent.
On one such occasion Frank arrived in Josh's stable yard in his pony and trap
one Sunday morning. He pretended at first to have come all the way
down from Bromley in Kent with it! Josh, of course, noticed that the
pony was not really sweating that much. It turned out that he had
brought the pony and trap down in a horsebox, unloaded in the village, got
harnessed up and trotted up Stable Lane to the Downs Stables.
Frank H. Pullen died aged 77.
Just prior to Christmas in 2002 I heard from Colin Dingley....
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17th December 2002. Frank
Pullen was my father in law.
Lumpi ridden by Joe Guest. Lumpi was a
prolific winner under Joe Guest and Frank (and the rest of the family)
had a few nice touches with him. In the late sixties Lumpi won at 33-1 one
Bank Holiday Saturday, and at 8-1 two days later!
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Continue if you would like to read about Patrick Moore and Peter Daw .
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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