from the waterjump, which the horses did have to clear the first time around, but none on the final run into the winning post which is, look, 45 yards away. a few more strides and dick francis would have realised his lifelong ambition. there are so many theories as to why the horse suddenly did what it did. you could safely say that devon loch s fall was the most astonishing fall in grand national history. it s almost unique, i d say, because he looked as though he was taking off for a fence. put both his forelegs into the air, then splayed out onto the ground to do a perfect belly flop. and dick actually stayed on board, as well, which is amazing. there are all sorts of theories. some wild and wonderful. perhaps the best one is someone had tightened his girth too much and the horse passed wind, if you like, and that is what caused his legs to stop working for a moment. but my father was convinced it was the noise. there were a quarter of a million people at aintree that day. i remembe
write, now continuing his legacy. i think without it, he would never have actually written anything. the devon loch episode catapulted the name dick francis from the back pages to the front pages. as he said, later in life, he thought that he probably owed more to devon loch s collapse than if he had won the race. but he was always afraid that his epitaph would be here lies the man who didn t win the grand nationai ~ i was only three at the time, but it seems to me that it was quite a miracle that i made it to my fourth birthday, because according to my mother, i would scamper across the sitting room carpet and i would throw my hands out in front and my legs at the back and shout, i m being devon loch, which was probably not very tactful. and, of course, it became part of sporting folklore. became a saying for failing, right at the last. yes, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is what doing a devon loch is. it is now used not only in sport but in politics as well, when you c
RICHARD EDEN: Windham, 64, resigned as a trustee of the Prince s Foundation last month after only three years in the post amid the ongoing cash-for-honours scandal rocking the monarchy