I live in the US - showed horses & also worked w/ race horses so met some nice , interesting & dryly funny Brits . - picked up some of their expressions ! 🤣 Love Brit. authors too !

I think Dick Francis was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson once. His explanation was that he thought the roar from the crowd may have spooked the horse. Apparently the noise hit them like a wall of sound. Now this was a long, long time ago and I was very young when I saw the program. It was before I had even read a Dick Francis novel so I had really no idea what steeplechasing was at the time.

@@joe7965 g’day Joe! We had two trainers and a range of jockeys ranging from seasoned veterans to apprentices. A number of times the race caller was calling him the winner as he surged to the front with big strong strides and then he’d just slow down. It seemed more than just fatigue or peaking on his run.

@@joe7965 he was an on-pace runner and would normally sit second or third and shift off heels rounding the turn. We tried leading and riding him further back without success.

@@joe7965 Don’t worry, the jockeys whipped him hard. We had one of the recognised hardest-whipping jocks on once. Second again. The horse would surge to the front, slow down, and then get going again when he saw other horses around him. We persevered for a long time and tried different strategies. He had 14 starts without a win so we had to sack him.

@@joe7965 😂 no. I would’ve tried anything but that to get him to race properly. At trackwork one morning, I saw another horse refusing to move. The jockey was flogging it with the whip, the trainer was whooping and hollering. They tried everything but it wouldn’t move. That’s when I realised if a horse doesn’t want to run, there’s not much you can do - except for maybe hitting it with a cattle prod - to make it run. That’s also why I argue with anti-racing activists trying to shut down the industry. Horses can’t tell us if they enjoy racing and being whipped, but they would certainly let us know if they hated it.

Many TBs think. They are highly intelligent horse.

Yeah

A lot of people who don’t know much about horse racing say that when horses win without a jockey, but it’s a lot more common then you think. They’re over a hundred pounds lighter then the other horses. So they have a really big advantage.

​​​​​@@topseed125It is also an advantage when the horse has a decent record. He has 4 Wins and great pedigree. Per a Blood-Horse article Blue Trail was determined late under James Doyle, prevailing in a three-way photo after appearing beaten in midstretch when Find opened up a clear lead. But as eventual runner-up Harrow closed on the outside, it brought about a needed response from the Blue Trail, who then outkicked those two rivals. Per a Blood-Horse article The jockey also has an advantage. The stick and direction. Control of the horse🏇👑🌟🏆 And do not forget Blue Trail still had his other weights on. If Blue Trail had not lost his jockey he would have won by more lengths 🥰💯❤️

How exciting to actually watch Dick Francis ride. I have collected most of his novels whenever I find them available. I never saw a horse fall like that before. Hope they didn't have to put his horse down after that fall. Did he write about this strange fall in one of his novels? Sure would like to read it.

Didint he break his leg

You are right Jan, the poor horse broke his left ankle right above the left hoof.

@@SbG7773 how

@@janjathehyena9120He didn't actually, lived in retirement for six years afterwards! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Loch

i was wondering why the jockey would go to the front again over 2 out, having had the horse stop racing at the front already. it didnt seem like the smartest of choices

Exactly. I don't know why some people think it was such a mystery. The poor horse was exhausted and reacted on auto pilot - saw a jump and tried to jump it.

No, he tried to jump a shadow.

Ah yeah you could be right I didn't see that before.. now it is clear as, he thought there was another jump.

No! Devon Loch was exhausted. His legs even gave out as he was being led back. That horse was exhausted. I’m surprised that it didn’t drop dead right there.

thats why he missed apointment

He was checked afterwards but recovered too quickly for that to be the case according to vets, and lived for another six years!

@@thejockeyclub1750 Denman lived much longer after his heart problem, as has Sprinter Sacre. Thinking about it, especially now I am aware Devon Loch was 'unsteady' once dismounted, the cause of his bellyflop could have been a heart flutter or something of that kind. I would like to have a vet's perspective on this. If only horses could talk!

They think The cause of the belly flop was because there was a jump directly opposite the fence

@@myzonegaming3363 It's possible but not proven. It's the theory Dick Francis adhered to, that along with the noise of the crowd cheering home a Royal winner.. I know after such a strenuous race the horse was tiring but he didn't look so tired he would be confused enough to jump an imaginary fence. We will never know, that's for sure.

I thought he tried to jump a shadow? or was that a different horse?

Colin payne ru for real a breather gms

@@darrensmith4279 yep definitely tried to give him a breather

Jockey thought it was the last lap by the looks of it

Mary & Dick Francis: if they were still alive, I would have known them for seventy-six years by now.

@@leplessis8179 I’m trying to remember the son’s name at the house they had moved into in Oxfordshire, was it Felix?

Yes, he co write books with his father, then issued more after Dicks death.

@@harry2.01 Thank you, Felix was a lovely man also, it was a while ago now.

@@stanslad7868 Two sons: Felix was a schoolmaster at Bloxham, and Merrick owned a horse transport company. Both came along after I first knew Mary and Dick, when Dick worked at Cundell's stable in Compton, a very long time ago now!

Only win of a 6 race career.

@@Elliot-T cheers Jeff 🙄🙄🙄

@@Elliot-T Only 6 races? Why?

Excuse me ?

And then Drill Sergeant said “hold my beer”

Oh I would be fuming, amazing though

iam sure was more horses before him,,,,,,i know for fact 100s more after him......lol betfair and internet in 1956 😀😀😀

they kept taking mite bite to cheltenham and he was never going to run properly because he was aiming to try and get back up the horse chute to the paddock. he knew the way out and beyond the finish line at cheltenham is a dead end which he could see. if they had taken him to some of the other big races at other courses in the season he would have performed better and had a longer career.

But, that wasn't the first time it happened although, it may have been the most recent incident in Britain anyway. It wasn't exactly a great feat because, there were no horses left to beat.

@@user-jd1wp5pq3q but it does show the elite winning mentality and awareness by the jockey. We see this countless times in athletics where a runner falls but still goes on to win. I think a jockey falling from a horse, remounting, and winning is far worse and far less likely. That's why I believe it should have been included.

He actually lived to be 17, no fatal injuries

You are talking nonsense. He raced 5 more times, won twice, second twice, fourth at Sandown in the Mildmay and was then retired.

i was about to rip my ticket up as safely kept got passed then dayjur jumped shadow lost all momentum . i got lucky on that one .i think i got 13 to 1 on a horse ,filly that jran second the year before in the sprint . but the breakdown of go for wand was so sad . i was at belmont that day . from screaming so loud to silence . people crying .so sad .

Think it’s just the colouring of the video, they’re most likely dark bays

@@henrietta9394 Probably. It was just strange and all. I usually don’t watch horse racing.

Riderless horses don't count as they have no weight to carry.

@@Robhalifax How well does a horse race after he has had the experience of running riderless?

@@carlmoore3215 Exactly the same as previously.

And the animal needed Weetabix. That's it, solved 70 years later. Devon Loch didn't have his Weetabix.