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

SNOWY DAVIS

Copyright Valerie Martin, 2004

Think of the village of Findon and what springs immediately to mind?  The annual Findon Sheep Fair and the rich tradition of horse training, for Findon has long been synonymous with the sport.

At the beginning of the twentieth century the imposing property on Findon’s skyline in Stable Lane, was known to all villagers as "Gore’s House".  Robert "Bob" Gore the legendary racehorse trainer and his wife Irene resided there.

When he died in 1941, the training of racehorses was carried on by Harry Davison and the French ex-jockey, Bobby Bates, (who may have been no oil painting as he was once described as the ugliest jockey who ever rode).

Eventually Irene Gore sold the property and there was speculation as to who would take over the stables. Rumour in the community was rife. The village, ruled for so long by that great trainer of yesteryear, had a worthy successor waiting in the wings.

This was Captain Ryan Price, with his wife Dorothy, who arrived to be the master of racing in Findon.  The Captain had been a commando during the war and was known to be an adventurous daredevil. In peacetime he had become a winning trainer and equally worthy of stepping into Bob Gore's shoes.

Owen (Snowy) Davis had a long racing career which began when he lived in Portsmouth.   A family on the opposite side of the street had a boy serving his apprenticeship in France with a racehorse trainer. Snowy was slight and this neighbour's profession gave him the idea of being a jockey too.  Quite an ambition for a young lad.   As a raw 14-year-old youth he went to serve an apprenticeship with a Belgian horse trainer named Charlier based at Chantilly.   The year was 1926.

He stayed in France as a jockey until just before the Second World War and then came home to serve his country.  Following hostilities, he returned to France for another two years.

In 1951, Snowy came back to English soil once again and became Travelling Head Lad to Captain Ryan Price who was by now the time the trainer at the Downs Stables.  

During his lifetime, Snowy drove horseboxes thousands of miles first for the Captain and then Josh Gifford and had many happy memories of the successes sent out from the Findon yard.   These were the good days in Findon racing, never to be seen again,  when the village was really something and on the map.  There were two Grand National winners — Kilmore in 1962 and Aldaniti in 1981.    There were also Champion Hurdle winners; Clair Soleil in 1955, Fare Time in 1959 and Eborneezer in 1961.  What a Myth went to Cheltenham in 1969 to bring home the Gold Cup to Findon.

Captain Ryan Price gave Snowy's wife, Joan, a horse called Honeycub.   She cosseted him, looked after him, rode him out and Snowy travelled Honeycub to the races.  In fact, to be quite truthful Honeycub was a bit of a handful and they had to blindfold him to take him to the paddock at the races.  

Snowy had the distinction of having a horse named after him by one of the Captain's owners.   "Owen Davis" ran in the Derby in the early 1960s but was, unfortunately, unplaced.

Snowy stayed on and became Travelling Head Lad for Josh Gifford in 1970 when he took over the Downs Stables and the Captain moved to his flat racing yard at Soldiers Field in Nepcote.  

Ron James (a familiar figure in Findon today with his dog, Mik) also stayed on as Josh's Head Lad.   The Captain took with him Geoffrey Potts as his Head Lad.   Also Tom Winters (who had joined the Captain as a young lad from the East End and had been responsible for Clair Soleil during his racing days.  Tom later became Travelling Head Lad and travelled all the big race winners for the Captain).   Others going with the Captain to Soldiers Field were Norman Freeman and Albert Allen. 

Little altered in the Captain's stable routine at Soldiers Field, except that he did not march his string of flat racers around the downland as much as the jumpers (who had often been out for two and a half hours in the morning).

At the end of March 1985, Snowy retired at the age of 73 after 59 years in racing  and went to live at Eastergate, within earshot of Fontwell racecourse.

Continue if you would like to read about a jockey who rode Captain Ryan Price's Findon horses, Paul Kelleway (1940-2001).

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