Down To The Beaten*****
By Chris Pitt
For every winner in life there's an incalculable number of losers.
Likewise, for every Grand National winning jockey there's another thirty-odd left wondering what, given a bit more luck, might have been.
This is the premise of Chris Pitt's highly readable 'Go Down to the Beaten'.
70+ jockeys – each alive at the time of publication and personally interviewed by Chris – are featured, giving detailed accounts of their individual and ultimately unsuccessful, stab at racing immortality.
Included are the hapless Bill Balfe, whose mount – dubbed the worst horse ever to run in the National – predictably crashed out at the first fence: Clive Chapman, who unexpectedly found a new career in television and films after quitting the saddle and the ill-fated John Hudson whom the author was proud to call a friend.
There's dozens more, each with a unique tale of hope, new dawns and, ultimately, shattered dreams, and the eventual realisation that National glory, with its accompanying fickle fame and fortune, was destined to others. Thus disappointed, they returned to their journeyman way of life in the saddle to dream dreams about future glory which they knew, in their moments of solitude and reality, were just that. Dreams.
They say 'write about what you know' and Chris certainly knows his racing: he writes with a passion about his passion. His style is crisp, very detailed and telling: you will warm to his characters – you'll feel that you're sat on the next chair listening as they haltingly relate their stories.
The old ex-jockeys, anxious that their efforts and memories be preserved, speak willingly to Chris. He does not let them down. Weighing in at 352 pages, there's space enough to embrace and fully relate each Aintree attempt, and this Chris does with panache and honesty.
It's a good read – you may not have heard of some of the jockeys but don't let that put you off.
If you're building up a racing library, then 'Go Down To The Beaten' is an essential addition.
The title comes from John Masefield's poignant 'Right Royal'
'Go down to the beaten, who have come to the truth
That is deeper than sorrow and stronger than youth...'
George Wheeler – Jockeypedia