Doug Benneyworth

On October 5, 1970, President Nixon visited the Curragh Racecourse during a trip to celebrate his mother's Irish Quaker roots. His motorcade stopped briefly by the roadside, where he got out to admire the area and chat with local riders schooling their horses. Doug — on the extreme right of the photo, aboard Many Ways — recalls the incident. 

"One of the things I experienced while in Ireland was President Richard Nixon's 1970 visit. We knew his motorcade would cross the Curragh on his way back to Dublin, so we rode our horses beside the main road to watch. Nixon must have spotted us, because he ordered his car to stop. He got out and walked over to us, and just as he began speaking, a mass of photographers and press came rushing in to capture the moment. One of them tripped and fell, his camera shattering on the road, and the sudden noise and chaos sent our horses into a bucking, kicking frenzy."

29 November 1968: Kempton Park. Doug's only ride in England before the scales beat him.