Diamond Geezer
Gone But Not Forgotten
- Joined
- May 2, 2003
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- 13,884
Everyone with a passing interest in British sport knows the story of Foinavon, the undistinguished 100-1 rank outsider who was so far behind the field approaching the 23rd fence in the 1967 Grand National that he and his jockey John Buckingham managed to avoid the melee that effectively brought the race to a standstill. Picking their way through the carnage so brilliantly described by the Irish commentator Michael O'Hehir after the loose and riderless Popham Down had stopped when leading the field and ran down the fence, they leapt the obstacle on the wide outside then romped home to victory ahead of the 17 other horses that finished, most after being remounted. Indeed, so famous are the horse's exploits that the fence in question is now named in his honour, although the pivotal contribution of another major character in this heartwarming chapter of British sporting folklore has long since been forgotten.
Foinavon was owned by the trainer-jockey John Kempton, a man who was forced to pass up the ride in the Grand National because he couldn't get near the allotted weight of 10 stone. He was actually riding in Worcester on the day of his horse's unlikely triumph, where he booted home a winner. Kempton had bought Foinavon from Anne, Duchess of Westminster, but when the new resident arrived at his yard in Compton, Berkshire, he refused to eat. Suspecting Foinavon might be homesick and in need of companionship, Kempton and his wife decided to introduce him to a ridiculously aggressive nanny goat named Susie, a precocious madame they had previously acquired to keep another of their equine charges company, only for the pair to fall out due to irreconcilable differences. There were no such problems with Foinavon and Susie; horse and goat immediately became inseparable, albeit in a relationship that was often fractious to the point of violence.
"[Feeding time] was the dangerous time," Foinavon's stable lad, Clifford Booth, told David Owen, author of Foinavon: The Story of the Grand National's Biggest Upset. In the book, Owen tells how Clifford described "how the two animals would stand in different corners of the stable eyeing each other up as he put the feed in the manger, the horse with its ears flat against its skull in a classic posture of aggression. Very soon, the goat would run out of patience and race for the manger, whereupon Foinavon would charge across, grab her by the neck and throw her out of the way."
Owen's book also relates the tale of how, due in no small part to Susie's caprine peccadilloes, Foinavon could easily have missed the Grand National from which he made his name. It seems the pair had to be unloaded from the horse box together at race meetings, otherwise the goat would panic. However, they would often fight when being led out of it and would end up haring off in opposite directions, meaning that Booth would have to let one of them go. "The thing is," he told Owen, "if you let the goat go, she was harder to catch, so I used to let Foinavon go. I let Foinavon go at Liverpool."
Britain's sporting tapestry would be considerably poorer had Foinavon managed to elude his stable lad that particular morning on Merseyside, or indeed if he'd wasted away due to starvation prior to being buddied up with the animal that would end up being his best friend, stablemate and constant travelling companion. As it happened the horse became one of the most famous Grand National winners in history, going on to enjoy a lucrative career making personal appearances, in the process boosting the celebrity status of a goat named Sue.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408154757
Foinavon was owned by the trainer-jockey John Kempton, a man who was forced to pass up the ride in the Grand National because he couldn't get near the allotted weight of 10 stone. He was actually riding in Worcester on the day of his horse's unlikely triumph, where he booted home a winner. Kempton had bought Foinavon from Anne, Duchess of Westminster, but when the new resident arrived at his yard in Compton, Berkshire, he refused to eat. Suspecting Foinavon might be homesick and in need of companionship, Kempton and his wife decided to introduce him to a ridiculously aggressive nanny goat named Susie, a precocious madame they had previously acquired to keep another of their equine charges company, only for the pair to fall out due to irreconcilable differences. There were no such problems with Foinavon and Susie; horse and goat immediately became inseparable, albeit in a relationship that was often fractious to the point of violence.
"[Feeding time] was the dangerous time," Foinavon's stable lad, Clifford Booth, told David Owen, author of Foinavon: The Story of the Grand National's Biggest Upset. In the book, Owen tells how Clifford described "how the two animals would stand in different corners of the stable eyeing each other up as he put the feed in the manger, the horse with its ears flat against its skull in a classic posture of aggression. Very soon, the goat would run out of patience and race for the manger, whereupon Foinavon would charge across, grab her by the neck and throw her out of the way."
Owen's book also relates the tale of how, due in no small part to Susie's caprine peccadilloes, Foinavon could easily have missed the Grand National from which he made his name. It seems the pair had to be unloaded from the horse box together at race meetings, otherwise the goat would panic. However, they would often fight when being led out of it and would end up haring off in opposite directions, meaning that Booth would have to let one of them go. "The thing is," he told Owen, "if you let the goat go, she was harder to catch, so I used to let Foinavon go. I let Foinavon go at Liverpool."
Britain's sporting tapestry would be considerably poorer had Foinavon managed to elude his stable lad that particular morning on Merseyside, or indeed if he'd wasted away due to starvation prior to being buddied up with the animal that would end up being his best friend, stablemate and constant travelling companion. As it happened the horse became one of the most famous Grand National winners in history, going on to enjoy a lucrative career making personal appearances, in the process boosting the celebrity status of a goat named Sue.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408154757
