Franny Norton: ‘I thought racing was a posh sport and they only wanted people whose dad had a boat’

Franny Norton has more in common with Frankie Dettori than you might think. The no-nonsense Liverpudlian and the flamboyant Italian, both aged 52, have overcome their fair share of adversity to carve out long careers in the saddle. They also have an unlikely friendship – one forged in the enclaves of the weighing room where those with similarities, some not obvious at first, are bonded together like glue. 

In the bar area of Norton's spotlessly clean home in Knowsley, Merseyside, there is a picture of the two jockeys at a function in Birkenhead a few years ago. Nothing out of the ordinary there you might think, but Norton is not your ordinary racing personality with memorabilia and trophies decorating the walls.

There are just a few, reserved for this space only, and each one carries special meaning. Pride of place is The Gold Cheongsam's win in a sales race at Doncaster in 2012 – a victory the Liverpool fan dedicated to the victims of the Hillsborough disaster. Then there is Norton's Chester Cup success on Making Miracles four years ago at a course he calls his own. Below that is the picture of him with Dettori.