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

HILL HOUSE AND ALL THAT — 1967

Hill House with Josh Gifford up.

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

Hill House shook Findon in 1967 and there is little doubt about that.  It was a year that the horseracing community of the will not forget and the season was to be clouded by the turn of events.

The gelding was jointly owned by Len Coville and Captain Ryan Price and it entered into the village's idyllic rural scene and took the dramatic world of the racing game by storm. 

Hill House was a seven-year-old hurdler and a somewhat tricky customer for the Captain to train.   Some days he would work on the Gallops and perform perfectly, then suddenly he would turn into a sluggish mule and refused to do anything.  

The Captain loved nothing better than a challenge and decided that the racehorse went best for a young amateur rider Peter Murray-Wilson from Kenya.  Peter was visting Findon at the time to learn about the training game. 

The observant Captain also noticed that Hill House was put off his feed by the hustle and bustle of the stable yard, so he promptly moved him to the quieter 2-year-olds' yard.   Here the horse began to recover from his problems and came into peak fitness and commenced his racing career.

Hill House being led in by Mrs Coville after winning the ill-fated race of 1967.

From then on things started to go dramatically wrong.   Hill House, ridden by Josh Gifford, failed to pass a dope test after winning the Schweppes Gold Trophy at Newbury by twelve lengths in February 1967.   Samples of saliva and urine had been taken after the race.  Had the horse been got at?  The urine contained abnormally high concentrations of  cortisol.

Captain Ryan Price’s career as a trainer was again in jeopardy as soon as there was a hint that he could be at the centre of a racing racket.  Fortunately the Findon trainer had the backing of his owners as well as a leading defence counsel acting on his behalf

Findonians recognised the tinkling of distant alarm bells and felt uneasy.  The Captain had learned his lesson though and employed the full force of the legal defence counsel to act for him at the inquiry (which at the end of the day cost him £10,000). 

The days dragged on. The inquiry dragged on.   It lasted for six months.  But it only took the Stewards twenty-five minutes to come to their verdict on the day when all the evidence had been collected. 

They decided that the Findon trained horse had rather strangely managed to manufacture his own dope.  Ryan Price was prompty cleared of all blame when clinical tests proved that the racehorse had somehow manufactured cortisone himself.   The case against the Captain, Len Coville and Josh Gifford was dismissed and their names and the names of the stable staff were completely cleared of all the allegations relating to the running of Hill House in 1967.

Dick Francis (the jockey and author) wrote a furious article in the Sunday Express demanding an inquiry into the inquirers!   He attacked the secrecy and delay always surrounding such inquiries and the way they were conducted.

Hill House was sent to the sales at Doncaster.  Under his newly acquired trainer he ran twice and failed to start on each ocasion when he whipped round with his jockey.  At the time he was dope tested by the Stewards on both occasions but the findings were not divulged. 

More turmoil hit the Downs Stables in 1967.  All horse racing was cancelled indefinitely on 28th November 1967 to help prevent the spread of the foot-and-mouth disease that was rampant. The decision was taken by the National Hunt Committee, on the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture. It meant the certain cancellation of two of National Hunt racing's top races: the Massey-Ferguson Gold Cup on 9th December, and the highly prestigious King George VI Cup at Kempton Park on Boxing Day.

It also threw the Findon jockeys, stable lads and trainers into a state of uncertainty.  Captain Ryan Price at the Downs Stables had a particularly difficult decision to make, as racing could be re-started at any time with seven days' notice.  

The e-mail I received from Gus Bruce in October 2003 concerning the Hill House episode speaks for itself.....

 

15th October 2003.

Hi Valerie

Hill House

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story on Hill House so in turn I send you a few words that you may find interesting.

Hill House was subsequently purchased by the flamboyant Glasgow bookmaker,
John Banks for the sum of 12,700 gns.  At that time I held a responsible position within the company – The John Banks Organisation and as a result, I was privy to certain facts that were not generally known.

For example, under the purple and white colours of John Banks, Hill House ran many races and according to the owner, the horse was dope tested after every race.  John told me one day that the results had been negative on every occasion.

Hill House never won another race after his dramatic victory in the Schweppes although it appeared he had an excellent chance to do so at Wetherby one Saturday afternoon.

On that day I had arrived at our Head Office in Glasgow from my home in Edinburgh and couldn’t fail to notice the two luxury coaches standing outside.  It turned out that ‘Banco’ as the boss was often called had asked his betting shop managers to choose some senior citizens from their respective offices and ask them if they would like a free trip to the races.

As a result, some hundred or so happy individuals were driven down to Wetherby Race Course, each given a free packed lunch and some refreshment to wash it down plus of course, free admission to the racing.

They were also issued with large purple and white rosettes bearing the legends “Hill House Fan Club” and “We Love Hill House.”  I’m told they created quite an atmosphere as they strolled round the town.

John didn’t give a hoot about the prize money, the only thing he wanted was that Hill House should win at least one more time.

The race itself appeared to be a two horse affair with Hill House and the only other apparent rival starting at short priced joint favourites.  Both horses were travelling well in the race until the rival horse unseated its jockey.

This made Hill House a ‘good thing’ on paper, but sadly, victory was still to elude him as later in the race his jockey too made that ignominious trip to the grass.

There is one happy ending to this story of course and that is the many golden memories gained by an enthusiastic bunch of senior citizens as they made their way back home from their never to be forgotten day out at the races as official members of The Hill House Fan Club.

Sincere best wishes

Gus Bruce



Gus Bruce, Edinburgh.
 

Hill House was subsequently retired and sent to the yard of Harvey Smith to be trained as a show jumper — but without success.  

Events turned a full circle and he returned to Findon to be with the Captain's other old horses on the Downs above Downs Stables.   By 1980 he was found to be suffering from colic and was put down. 

In 1968, Ryan Price started building a house on “Soldiers Field”.  

A year after that he suddenly hit the headlines yet again and shook the racing fraternity — but this time not with an accusation of doping.  Josh had become the successful Champion Jockey for the fourth time when one morning the Captain  asked him if he wanted to become a trainer and gave him half-an-hour to think about it.  The plan being that he wanted Josh to take over his racing yard. 

Josh returned thirty minutes later (and having confirmed that his governor's offer was serious), he agreed.  That is how business was conducted at the Downs Stables in those days.  The Captain made the offer of the Downs Stables in Stable Lane — plus all the horses in training, for a payment of £35,000.   

Josh Gifford considered the price to be paid a little on the high side and valued the offer at only £25,000.  A compromise was reached between trainer and jockey, mid-way at £29,000 and the deal was struck.    That is how Josh  came to live at Downs House and become the trainer in Findon.

Continue if you would like to read The Honey End National.

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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com