Mould, David

Aged 14, David weighed just four and a half stone: when it went up to nine stone, he made the transition to National Hunt racing. He broke his shoulder 12 times and his leg four times. So badly was it infected that nobody would risk treating it, so, in desperation, he rang up the Queen Mother who immediately sent him to see her own surgeon, Sir Henry Osmond Clarke. Without this help, he would have lost a leg.

David also rode for actor Gregory Peck. Peck once flew David to his home in his private jet.

Another famous person for whom David rode was Winston Churchill.       

David's wife, then Marion Coakes, was also becoming well known, due to her legendary association with her brilliant pony, Stroller, in the showjumping ring

Standing just 14.2 hands, Stroller peaked with a silver medal in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He died of a heart attack in March,1986, at the remarkable age of 36.

David and Marion were married in 1969 at the Church of All Saints in Hordle, Hampshire. They had met at a Horse & Hound Ball. 

After 19 years of marriage, they announced that they were expecting their first child that March (1989). They had a son, Jack. David was 48 at the time: Marion was 41.

David never became champion jockey: 'I would loved to have been champion, but I never had an injury-free season.' he said. 'I spent more Christmases in hospital than I did at home. I even managed to break my foot two days after our wedding. That was some honeymoon!'

David and Marion set up an equestrian centre and began developing young showjumpers, eventers and one or two racehorses.