How a racehorse earned Faye McManoman an invite to war heroine's centenary party

The racehorse Violette Szabo and jockey Faye McManoman will be guests of honour at belated celebrations to mark the centenary of her namesake, an Anglo-French spy who was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre for wartime heroism.

Violette Szabo the racehorse, who is trained by Nigel Tinkler, sparked emotional scenes at Beverley last June when breaking her maiden just four days before what would have been the late Special Operations Executive (SEO) agent's hundredth birthday.

That earned her and her jockey an invite to the annual garden party staged by the Friends of the Violette Szabo GC Museum at Wormelow, near Hereford, and though coronavirus put the event on hold for a year, both horse and rider will be keeping their appointment.

Freddie Drabble: owner of racehorse Violette SzaboCredit: David Carr

McManoman said: "I've ridden for the owner Freddie Drabble for a while, so he'd informed me of the meaning behind the name before I rode her and I'm good friends with his grandson Alex, who works on the yard.

"She'd taken a while to get off the mark but we stepped her up to a mile-four, which she seemed to get nicely when she won last year. Everyone was delighted with that run.

"It's nice to be asked to do something like this – it's not every day you get asked – and she'll be very professional around everyone."

Violette Szabo was portrayed by Born Free actress Virginia McKenna in the 1958 film 'Carve Her Name With Pride' and has been the subject of a number books since her execution at the infamous Ravensbruck women's concentration camp in early 1945.

Szabo was recruited by the SEO after her husband was killed fighting in North Africa and was first sent into occupied France in April 1944.

She returned on June 8, 1944 – two days after the Allied invasion of Normandy was launched – only to be captured and interrogated before her incarceration, torture and eventual execution.

A parade through Wormelow will begin at 12pm on Sunday and followed by the garden party.

Details of the museum's activities can be found on its website, while details of Sunday's events are contained in the Friends of Violette Szabo GC Museum newsletter.

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