THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — these
Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home
village of Findon,
West Sussex, U.K. Everyday stories about real people.
FINDON'S RACING SCENE..... VALERIE'S ARCHIVES
Copyright Valerie Martin 2011
Many years ago, Findon was a flourishing racing village and could boast more than one racing yard.... in fact, at one time there were four.
When I arrived in Findon in the autumn of 1993, the racing scene was still in evidence and bouncing along and has given me many happy memories. Findon was a bustling place and every morning at precisely 7.50 a.m. a string of up to twenty racehorses clattered passed my kitchen window. Those were the days when I knew a stable lad living in my road..... one lodging a few doors away .......and another living on the corner...... and another a few doors down.
Over the years, things do not remain the same and stable lads move on to become postmen or refuse collectors and, unfortunately, others fade away.
I think it is about time for me to share with you some of my photographs of my early days in the village before it is too late.
There are too many to mention..... I have so many memories of the Downs Stables in the good old days...... horses of the past..... Vodkatini, Seagram, Around the Horn, Bollinger,Jumbeau, No Pain No Gain, Run Up the Flag, RedeemYoursSelf.... how do I mention them all?
These are all that are left of the great days of Holy War, Cackler and the 1912 Grand National winner Jerry M.....
The most memorable Findon Grand National winner ever.... Findon's Finest Hour.... and the year was 1981...who did these ears belong to?...
click to enlarge
Yes, the unforgettable and magnificent Aldaniti.....
In September 1994, I had the privilege of meeting Aldaniti (aged 24) on the Findon Gallops. Here he is with Bob Champion.
25 years after the Grand National win ..... with his jockey, Bob Champion. Aldaniti lived out his retirement with Door Latch nd enjoyed an active life
hunting and eventing.
Martin Hogan in 1994.
When I moved to Findon in 1993, Martin Hogan was living very close to me in
one of the Nepcote cottages with his father, Paddy, a stable lad.
Paddy Hogan. Paddy had to tell his son "You're too big and you can't ride very
well" and from then on Martin changed the course of his career and became
Josh's farrier.
There had been a long Hogan family tradition in Findon....Paddy's Grandfather
had been Patrick Hogan who came over from Ireland in 1921 to ride as second
jockey to the Down Stable trainer, Bob Gore but a sequence of bad falls cut
his life tragically short at the age of 39.
Another of my all time favourites......July 1994 — Running wild with the herd.... Cythere the 10 year-old grey gelding.... (Cissbury Ring is the backcloth).
May, 1995 — above is Cythere age 11..... I am
just out of the photograph talking to him. So many memories. It was said
"he stays for ever" and loved soft ground). Here he is out to graze in the
field next to the Mill House for the summer.
A year later, on 4th June 1996 he was sent to the Sales but did not reach his
reserve price and returned to Findon. Later I was glad to learn that happily
he was found a home, I know not where.
A memory of the past. The date for this one is March 1997 and shows Philip Hide coming off Spuffington at Beechers Brooke in the 150th Grand National. Spuffington was looked after by a French stable lad lodging in my road with a well-known figure in Findon's past, Barbara Coleman. Spuffington started in the Grand National at 100-1 much to his trainer, Josh Gifford's disgust.
Poor Spuffington was sent to the sales in June 1997 and sadly I did not hear of him again. Everyone had such high hopes of him because he had always jumped well.
Every picture tells a story....
Click to enlarge my photographs
Above is a racehorse named 'Iggins with Wayne (in new jods) in Josh Gifford's main yard. 'Iggins was out of Strong Gale - Gale Flush.... more about the Gale equines later.
Wayne out on the Findon Gallops with 'Iggins.
1997 — Wayne on River Gold (a 3-year-old unraced gelding) and refusing to canter on that particular day. It was hoped he would be ready to enter a bumper at the end of the season. What happened to him, I never did know. He had one or two health problems that Josh Gifford was hopefully sorting out.
This is a name from the past to be reckoned with ... a racehorse named Door Latch returns to his old stamping ground, the Findon Gallops. Here he is with Richard Rowe up..... on one of Josh Gifford's Open Days.... ah, they were the days to remember in Findon....
I am happy to tell you that Door Latch lived out a happy retirement hunting and eventing.
Above Josh Gifford is giving a commentary on his above big Open Day, accompanied by Declan Murphy.
Josh doing the commentary at another of his Open Days.
The days of a good string going round Findon...August 1996...... Josh Gifford's large string of racehorses in training and returning to the Down Stables via Nepcote Green at the start of the 1996/7 season.... a lovely sight.
The days of Wee Windy and Villa Park and the date is July 1996 — Wee Windy, aged 7 out to grass in a field below Cissbury Ring. He was owned by another favourite of mine, Mr. W. E. Gale of Gallops Farm. I often met this slight in stature gentleman out on the Findon downland with Dolly his Jack Russell.
Mr. Gale related to me how when playing rugby as a boy, his team mates would call out to urge him on ...
"Come on Wee Windy" as he tore down the field.
In later years Mr Gale thought this would be a good name for his racehorse and Josh Gifford agreed. He bought Wee Windy to replace Golden Minstrel (at the time of the photograph Golden Minstrel was in retirement with Aldaniti.
(Another of Mr. Gale's acquisitions using his famous name was Yorkshire Gale a brown gelding out of Strong Gale... and another was Brief Gale).
Above is Wee Windy. During the 1995/96 season, Wee Windy raced over hurdles and won twice, came second once and fourth once. During August 1996 he was due to go to George Wareham for a month's training before returning to Josh Gifford in September 1996 to go over larger fences.
July 1995 — Seen above....here is Wee Windy with his friend, Villa Park on the left. Villa Park was owned and trained by George Wareham at the time of the photograph. George Wareham lived at New Cottages at Gallops Farm and was an ex-jockey (working with Ryan Price and Josh Gifford) and later under a trainer's licence of his own.
Villa Park .... Cissbury Ring can be seen in the distance in the second
picture.
1996 — Fitness Fanatic
Another familiar figure on the Findon Downs in the late 1990s was Fitness Fanatic a racehorse belonging to Josh Giffords's secretary, Judy Bradley...
Head Lad, Celia, in action on the Findon Gallops
Some more Findon horses...... starting with Absolute Limit the grey gelding who loved jumping..... and out on the downland.
Mandy's Mantino on the Findon Gallops.
Old favourites gallop past in Findon....
Katabatic...........................Simon O'Neil
Bradbury Star ..............Bob Champion
Deep Sensation.............Declan Murphy
Above is a hopeful who did not make it to the Grand National. Josh Gifford with the never to be forgotten Brave Highlander... and the jockey, Philip Hide. They aimed for the Grand National but, unfortunately, didn't make it.
Who is this with Josh? It is Henry Cooper. Two greats together in October 1996.
August, 1996... This is Shadow.... one of Kristina Gifford's first ponies. Here he is returned to Soldiers Field after being out on load... that's Cissbury Ring behind him. Shadow always had a cheeky look in his eye to me.
AN
ALL-TIME FAVOURITE IN ONE OF THE PASTURES ON THE FINDON GALLOPS WAS JOLLY
REGAL......she was always munching away in her field..... and she seemed to be
always pregnant....
These are her known foals...
1986 Bollinger (by Ballinger) her first foal
1992 Polly (by Broadsword)
1994 A dark bay colt (by Golden Heights)
1996 A dark bay filly (by Java Tiger)
July 1996 — Jolly Regal ......18 years old and owned by Josh's wife Althea.
The end of a wonderful era. One day she just disappeared from her paddock and I did not see Jolly Regal again.
One of my all time favourites is....
.
Ron James
Ron retired as Head Lad at Josh Gifford's stables in 1998 aged 65. He had spent 48 years in racing with only a 2-year national Service gap in 1951/2 where he served in Egypt. What a shame this prevented him from clocking up half a century working at the stables.
Ron was born and brought up in Warwickshire and left school at the age of 14. During the war he says that all of his riding was done bare-back on ponies that were running wild.
He came to Arundel as an apprentice jockey to Willie Smyth (a trainer that I remember well).... but Ron's weight curtailed any future career in the saddle.
Ron met Syd Dale the Head Lad to Captain Ryan Price and was offered a job in the Findon yard......... another member of the establishment at this time was the stable jockey, Josh Gifford!
Many of Findon's famous racers came under Ron's eye but his all time favourite was Cantab. "He has never had his praises sung, but he was outstanding on the track and later as a stallion, when he retired to stud.
Cantab won 13 races on the trot, including the 1961 Triumph Hurdle - and one year nine of the horses running in the Grand National were his progeny.
One of his peculiarities was that he would never load into the horse box forwards. One year he went to race in France and he had to go up a huge ramp to get into the container in the plane. The air freight staff couldn't believe it when I turned him road and he went all the way backwards!"
When the Captain moved to Soldiers Field in Nepcote and concentrated on the Flat, Josh took over the Downs Stables and Ron stayed with him as he preferred jumpers.
Ron undoubtedly sings the praises of many of his charges during his lifetime... the Grand National winner Kilmore... Gold Cup winner What A Myth.... Champion Hurdle winner Clair Soleil..... only mentioning a few.
Aldaniti and Bob Champion's 1981 win in the 1981 Grand National topped everything. "The horse had so many injury problems, and Josh did such a fine job to get him right. Then there was Bob having recovered from cancer. It has to be the best win".
Ron sees the Findon stables as the ideal situation for sweetening up horses. "Over the years, so many horses came to us that had been turned out in Newmarket. They would be ridden out over the Downs behind the stables, have just one or two canters on the Gallops each week and finish up as sweet as a nut".
Ron still lives in Findon and when I spy his Honda CRV parked along the wayside I always look to see where he is. I freqently meet him with his Chesapeke Bay Retriever, Mik, and more often than not gives out some words of wisdom about the countryside. He does a bit of deerstalking in his spare time and helps generally looking after some of the local estate land....... and, of course, culling the moles on Nepcote Green in readiness for the Findon Sheep Fair (Health and Safety and all that kinda thing) .
Continue if you would like to read about Mandy's Mantino.
This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon and beyond.
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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! |
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