A Racing History- A Conversation with Mr Richard Pitman

Recalling the many times my Father has told me stories of the revered Richard Pitman, it was always inevitable that one day I would finally have the chance to converse with him. Softly spoken, smartly dressed and a complete gentleman, the honour was beyond anything I imagined.

Richard, remembering how as a child, he would slip into Cheltenham Racecourse and his first spell on a pony courtesy of his sisters, planted the first seeds for a love affair that would last a lifetime. Living half-a-mile from Cheltenham Racecourse and after uncharacteristically failing his O-levels, Richard decided to turn his hand to becoming a jockey.

“It was not planned but there were 10 trainers that were all also based half-a-mile from Cheltenham, so it only seemed natural that I should try and earn a keep there. I used to ride out over the hillside at Cleeve Hill, it could be rather hairy in the fog!”

Richard had his first ride on a racetrack at Hereford in the September of 1961, aboard Rossagio, saying: “It was daunting but still quite a thrill! Going up against such established jockeys like Stan Mellor and Bill Smith.”

Three years later, Richard subsequently joined forces with the legendary Fred Winter, who had recently hung up his boots, at Uplands in Lambourn. Conversing on how working for one of the greatest horsemen influenced him, so early on in his career, Richard recalls: “Working for Fred Winter changed my life; he was superb man who loved his horses. He would have gone to the top in anything he did.

“He had a horse in the stable called Sonny Sommers, an 18-year-old grandmaster! Every young jockey who worked for Fred Winter cut his teeth on him, including John Francome and myself.”

In no time at all did the victories start to roll in, as too, the classier horses. One race, early in his career, that Richard recalls, was on Fred Winter’s Solbina, owned by Baron Arnold Weinstock (whose silks would be most familiar for Troy and Sun Princess on the flat!).

“We were travelling quite well up to two out, when I decide to go for home. I thought that I had the race won then this beast of a horse just galloped past me, taking the fences like they were nothing! He went on to win the race easily and broke Solbina’s heart. The horse? Well, he was called Arkle!”

Richard’s first major win came in the Imperial Cup on Royal Sanction in 1969, for Fred Winter. In the same year, a fresh faced 16-year-old showjumper called John Francome had been made apprentice to Fred Winter. Richard would share the role of stable jockey with John until his retirement in 1975. More notably, the pair became quite good friends.

On Francome, Richard remarked: “John has a fantastic sense of humour! We once stopped off at a supermarket and John came walking out with a handful of ladies’ underwear and threw them at me, now I wasn’t going home with them, so I returned them. It was rather embarrassing!”

Richard (Front Left), Fred Winter (Front Centre) and John Francome (Front Right)

Around the same time, Richard almost ended up riding for the ‘enemy over the wall’, the excellent Fulke Walwyn.

“He asked me if I wanted to school a horse for him up at Lambourn and I wasn’t about to turn him down! So, we drove up to his gallops in his Range Rover, with his dog, as ever, by his side. Now the horse that he wanted me to school was recovering from a bad leg injury and tended to jink to the right. The gallops consisted of three rows of seven different sized fences. We jumped the first one with no problem. When we reached the second row, everything seemed to be going well then right at the last second, he jinked! Fulke Walwyn and his dog were standing in between the fences and the horse went right through! Fulke moved out of the way, but the lead of the dog had become tangled around the horse’s leg. I tried to stop him, but we jumped the next fence, with the dog in tow! Thankfully, the dog was fine and came to no harm, but that was the end of my chances to ride for Fulke Walwyn!”

The turn of the decade saw Richard’s career really kickstart. Scoring in the Whitbread Gold Cup on Royal Toss for Tim Handel, beating top class performers like Spanish Steps and Titus Oates.

The year of 1972 started on a high for Richard, winning the Arkle at Cheltenham aboard Pendil. Remembering the great horse, Richard fondly recalled: “He was quite a small horse but could stand off a way before the fence and still get as far on the other side. He had a natural ability to jump. Fun fact, he was one-of-two horses I rode that had horns! The other was Royal Sanction.”

New season, same year gave birth an opportunity to ride for the aforementioned ‘enemy o’er the wall’, Fulke Walwyn, on Charlie Potheen in the 1972 Hennessey Gold Cup, deputising for the injured Barry Brogan.

Of course, as Richard reminisces, it was not altogether straightforward! “I rode him because the stable jockey Barry Brogan had broken his leg, the day before, at Newbury. It was quite a hairy ride! He was like a spoilt child! I gave him a talking too after he tried to go back to the stables with a circuit to go and after that he hung badly for the rest of the race!”

Less than a month later, Richard would land the King George VI Chase on the small but mighty Pendil, beating their nemesis, The Dikler.

The year of 1973 was, in my opinion anyhow, the most successful of Richard’s career. A successful Cheltenham festival saw Richard and Fred Winter storming to victory in the Tote Champion Novices’ Chase (what is now named the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase) with the ultra-talented Killiney, by 25 lengths!

All these years later, with hearty regret, Richard remembered him, saying: “He would have been a champion, no doubt. Killiney was going to have a breathing operation the summer he died, which would have only improved him further.

“When he fell in the Heinz Chase at Ascot, I was knocked out and only found out that he had died when the owner came to visit me in hospital. I was devastated, I cried like a baby.”

Killiney was sure to be a champion, so much so that Fred Winter allegedly once remarked: “He would have been the best I ever trained, for sure.”

Killiney and Richard en route to victory at Cheltenham

Later followed a thrilling climax in the Gold Cup, when Richard and Pendil went down fighting by a head to their nemesis, The Dikler. They finished quite clear of a strung-out field that included L’Escargot, Spanish Steps and Charlie Potheen.

A month later and there was, yet again, another thrilling climax to a race. One that would cement itself in the history of the sport and be revered and conversed about for years and years to come.

Crisp had finished third in the Champion Chase, just three weeks before, so logically the next step must be the Grand National! The Black Kangaroo went off 9/1 joint favourite but had to lump around a top weight of 12 stone. What followed was a spectacle so heartbreakingly fantastic, it remains forever engrained in racing history.

Recalling the fabled race, in such fine detail like it happened yesterday, Richard told the tale: “Everything was going well, I’d made the running and he jumped superbly! I came out on the second circuit and was met with near silence; I could hear the commentator [Michael O’Hehir] going ‘Dick Pitman and Crisp are 25 lengths clear!’

“We soared over Becher’s, where The Duke, David Nicholson, was watching, after his horse had gone at the first circuit. He shouted across to me ‘Richard! You’re miles clear! Kick on and you’ll win!’

“Approaching the third last, I had a glance around and I saw Brian [Fletcher] and Red Rum, but they were a long way back. So, we jumped that but then he emptied! I could hear the nostrils of Red Rum flapping away and they were getting louder and louder!”

“Then I did something I should never have done, a rookie mistake”, Richard said remorsefully. “I smacked him with my right hand, only problem was, I had to go right-handed to the Elbow. Of course, naturally, he went left!

“I gathered him back up, but we’d lost momentum, and we could hear Red Rum coming. Crisp tried to quicken but he was spent and mere strides from the winning post, he caught us.”

Listening with reverential awe to Richard describe a race that is forever inscribed in the pantheon of greats was something that I, gladly, would’ve listened to all day long. Alas, we had more to talk about!

The following year, Richard had won the Champion Hurdle on Lanzarote and him and Pendil looked for redemption in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. There was drama before the race even started, as there was a threat before the race to shoot Pendil, if he looked like winning. Describing what happened, Richard said: “Pendil’s lad, Vince ‘Clogger’ Brooks, hadn’t left his side, day or night, for the 10 days leading up to the Gold Cup.

“He was begging me to get him withdrawn but there was no way that was happening.”

Sure enough, the race proceeded, and everything was going to plan until the third last fence.

“I went to early the previous year, so I wasn’t about to make the same mistake! I was in behind High Ken, who had a reputation for being a bad jumper, nonetheless, I could pull out beside him and then tuck back in.

“However, when we got to the third last, The Dikler and Captain Christy came alongside me, so I had no way out and as luck would have it, High Ken fell and brought us down.”, lamented Richard.

“Obviously, given the threat beforehand, I’m pretty certain it gave Vince Brooks a heart attack! I remember returning to the weighing room afterwards and Terry Biddlecome saying, ‘they could’ve missed you and shot me!’”

Richard retired in 1975, passing the torch on to the 23-year-old John Francombe, boasting a distinguished career and a plethora of major successes. Although that did not seem to be the case for everyone, as Richard explains: “When I retired, the Sporting Life’s front page read ‘Failure, Failure, Failure.’ The article itself was quite nice actually but I’d been twice second in the Grand National, second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and twice second in the Jockey’s Championship!”

Richard went on to work for the BBC for 37 years, covering a host of Grand National spectacles, working alongside the likes of the great Peter O’Sullevan.

As well as his many other ventures, Richard has also taken his hand to writing a few books, following in the trail of Dick Francis.

Richard and Willie Carson (Right)

I would say that for many people, regardless of age, Richard Pitman is truly a legend of the game. A truly down to earth, humble and honest gentleman whose passion for racing still burns brightly. To be able to listen and revel in his stories, many of which could fill numerous editions of this series, was truly an honour conferred.