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John Francome: 'If it hadn't been for him, I'd be cleaning cars or in prison or doing something completely different'
The legendary rider talks to racing writer of the year Chris Cook in our weekly series
Chris CookRacing Writer of the Year
John Francome was fourth-choice rider for Fred Winter before getting on the horse who would change his destinyCredit: Edward Whitaker
John Francome gives me a line to set the mind racing: "There was only one horse that made me.”
Just one horse from that great career! Does he mean Burrough Hill Lad or Wayward Lad, Sea Pigeon maybe?
No, those came towards the end of his time in the saddle, it would have to be something earlier. Bula or Lanzarote perhaps? I've got it; he must mean Pengrail, his Sun Alliance Chase winner from 1975, the season before he first became champion jockey?
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Published on inThe Horses Who Made Me
Last updated
Copymore inThe Horses Who Made Me
- 'He was bloody good - people underestimate him but you should talk about him in the same breath as Desert Orchid'
- 'There must have been 50 bookmakers in all and we had 1,000 to 30 with them all. We won fortunes, we won the lottery!'
- John Gosden: 'We were young and if you couldn't have fun in LA in the 1980s you couldn't have fun anywhere - it was a wild town'
- 'If I ever had a stroke of genius it was bringing him back to a mile for the QEII - that day he was majestic'
- 'I just wish he had been at his best that day because I would have given Frankel a big run for it'
more inThe Horses Who Made Me
- 'He was bloody good - people underestimate him but you should talk about him in the same breath as Desert Orchid'
- 'There must have been 50 bookmakers in all and we had 1,000 to 30 with them all. We won fortunes, we won the lottery!'
- John Gosden: 'We were young and if you couldn't have fun in LA in the 1980s you couldn't have fun anywhere - it was a wild town'
- 'If I ever had a stroke of genius it was bringing him back to a mile for the QEII - that day he was majestic'
- 'I just wish he had been at his best that day because I would have given Frankel a big run for it'