Horse Racing Speakers

Well Trained Jockey and Horse Racer

His success as a jockey and trainer makes him one of the foremost figures of all time in the racing world, but he has also made a success in the world of broadcasting and publishing as a commentator and novelist. He is also a great speaker.

Even though his autobiography is called Born Lucky, the fact still remains that John Francome came from humble beginnings. Born in a council house in Mulberry Grove on 13 December 1952 he left Park Senior High School with few qualifications to show for his time there.

His business sense, however, had already began to manifested itself in a scheme to print counterfeit lunch vouchers which he sold to selected classmates at half price.

One of the last areas he might have been expected to find himself was in the horse world, not least because the family struggled to provide the funds for him to compete with the horsey set. The Francomes had had no connection with horses, but a ride on a donkey at Barry Island at the age of six was enough to captivate John. He soon persuaded his parents to buy him a pony – Black Beauty – and the happiest moments of a happy childhood were the ones spent in the saddle.

Fairly unusually for a jockey, his first successes on horseback were as a showjumper. Yet even winning the European Championship with the Great Britain team is dismissed in one line in his autobiography.
On leaving school he realised showjumping offered little financial security and he recalls: “To become a jockey suddenly seemed the natural solution.”

Despite reservations that he would grow too big, the 16-year-old became an apprentice with top trainer Fred Winter at Lambourn.

John Francome went on to win seven championships in ten years but admits that by the time he set a new record of 1036 jumping victories in June 1984, he was already making up his mind to retire. He rode his 1038^th and last winner in April 1985 and was awarded the MBE the following year.
John has retained a strong link with racing by working as a trainer and with regular appearances as a TV commentator.