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.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MICHAEL ROBINSON?

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

Did you ever wonder what happened to Michael Robinson, read on and you will find out......

Michael, now aged 45 years

was a student of the Josh Gifford school in Findon but was always going to be too heavy to be a big time jockey.  
He did, however, look after some popular equines of the day at the Downs Stables, notably Approaching, the Hennessy Gold Cup winner back in 1978.

After leaving Josh, Michael gained success from a yard near Wantage in the late 1980s when his chestnut was the top novice hurdler-chaser Slalom. 
His ambition to train in his own right was realised in preparing
Slalom to run up a long line of firsts over both hurdles and fences, at Sandown Park, Newbury, Cheltenham, Haydock Park, Ascot and Aintree.

Michael
, whose racing connections ended at a yard on the Curragh, found that period of his career as being more disappointing than he had anticipated.    Nothing really went right for him in Ireland.   In the end he decided to get out of the racing scene altogether.  
He goes down in racing history as one of the few racehorse trainers to have now completely distanced himself from racing in which he was for a time deeply involved as when at Findon.
 

He is now a wine wholesaler in Faringdon — which is some twenty miles south-west of Oxford.

Continue if you would like to read about the early 1980s — Findon Racing Under Josh by Angus Mann

 

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This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

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Do let me know of anything you hear about Findon - not too controversial.   Please note that opinions expressed in the Findon Chronicles are not necessarily reflective of my own thoughts.... but sometimes they are!