THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — these
Findon Chronicles were created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home
village of Findon,
West Sussex, U.K. Everyday stories about real people.
HILL HOUSE AND ALL THAT — 1967
Hill
House with Josh Gifford up. |
Copyright Valerie Martin 2003
There have been some
exciting times in Findon's racing history. A horse named Hill House shook Findon in 1967 and there
is little doubt about that. It was a year that the horseracing
community will not forget in a hurry 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 with the other horses 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 visiting 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 busy stable yard, so
he promptly moved him to the quieter 2-year-olds' yard. Here the
horse began to recover from his old problems and came into peak fitness and
commenced his racing career with new vigour.
|
Hill House being led in by Mrs Coville after winning the
ill-fated race of 1967. |
You would imagine
that from now on things would start improving but no. From then on things started to go
dramatically wrong.
Hill House, ridden by Josh
Gifford, failed to
pass a test after winning the
Schweppes Gold Trophy at Newbury by twelve lengths in February 1967. Samples
of saliva and urine were taken after the race. Had the horse been got
at? It was reported that the urine contained abnormally high concentrations of cortisole.
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. Findonians recognised the
faint tinkling of distant alarm bells and felt uneasy. Fortunately
the Findon trainer had the backing of his owners. The Captain had learned his
lesson and this time 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. In fact, it lasted for a long six months. But it only took the Stewards twenty-five minutes to come to
their own verdict on the day when all the evidence had been collected. Ryan Price was promptly cleared of all blame when clinical tests
proved that the racehorse had manufactured the cortisole 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 occasion when he whipped round with his jockey. At the time he was tested by the Stewards on both occasions but the findings were not divulged
to the public.
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.
|
In 1968, Ryan Price started
building a house for himself 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
bargain was duly struck. That is how Josh came to live at Downs
House and become the trainer in Findon.
Meanwhile, it was
reported that Hill House had been retired from the racing world and sent to
the yard of Harvey Smith to be trained as a show jumper — but without success.
Events turned a full circle and the horse
returned once more 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.
Continue if you would like to read The Honey
End National.
THIS IS FINDON
VILLAGE —
www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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