WHEN you have tasted victory in your sport more than 1,000 times, it must be difficult to pinpoint a favourite.

Fortunately for John Francome, his decision is rather more straightforward.

In his career, Swindon’s Francome rode 1,138 winners, to be precise, and was crowned champion jockey seven times.

But one of those victories stands head and shoulders above the rest – the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The triumph was not only Francome’s sole success in his sport’s blue riband race but also broke the duck for his boss and mentor, legendary trainer Fred Winter.

“Winning the Gold Cup for Fred Winter in 1978 on Midnight Call was probably the highlight,” said Francome, ahead of the annual four-day Festival, which gets under way next Tuesday.

“It wasn’t a great ride or anything – any other rider would have won on it – but Fred Winter had the favourite in the Gold Cup the previous four years and it was the only Gold Cup he ever won.

“He’d been champion trainer God knows how many times; he’d trained two Grand National winners, he’d ridden two Grand National winners, so it was something missing off his portfolio.

“He was a good horse. It had been abandoned and the Gold Cup was run in April that year, and he was a better horse a month later.

“He kept improving all through the season, I think he would have won if it had been held in March, but he obviously won in April anyway.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

Winning the 1978 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Midnight Call for trainer Fred Winter remains the highlight of Francome’s racing career​

For Francome, the victory was a way of repaying all the faith Winter had shown in him through the years.

The now 63-year-old first arrived at Winter’s yard in Lambourn as youngster, the son of a Swindon railway fireman simply eager to get hands-on experience and satisfy his passion for horses.

Although there was little suggestion he was a champion jockey in waiting, after plenty of hard graft, Francome and Winter would eventually become one of the most successful partnerships in racing history.

“He (Winter) was absolutely central to it. Without him, I’d still be mucking out but if you worked hard, he gave you the opportunity,” said Francome.

“He had a great head lad, who is still living in Lambourn, called Brian Delaney, and a lot of good people have come through there – the likes of Oliver Sherwood and Nicky Henderson; an endless stream of people who learned their trade and learned to do things properly there.

“I started helping out with a milk round, which used to be done with a horse and cart, when I was tiny in Swindon.

“I also did lots of show jumping and gymkhanas and things that kids do, and when it came time to leave school, my dad got me a job at Fred Winter’s.

“My dad wasn’t a rider himself – nobody in our family was – but he was quite interested in racing, and he knew that Fred Winter didn’t have any sons, so he wouldn’t be looking to give them rides.

“He said it would be a good place to go and I ended up staying with him for the duration of my career, which was about 15 years, which was unbelievable. I started and finished with him.

“It’s very unusual to get that sort of loyalty. These days, if you are a young rider and you win on a horse, they soon drop you off and get somebody else on if there’s somebody better. In those days, if you won on something, that was it. You got to ride it until you made a cock-up.

“I had no interest in racing whatsoever when I first arrived and I didn’t even know who Fred Winter was but I couldn’t have gone to anyone better.

“He was incredibly loyal. If you worked hard, he gave you chances and I just worked my way up and I had a lot of good advice from Richard Pitman, who was stable jockey at the time.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

Legendary trainer Fred Winter was Francome's mentor

If Winter is the biggest factor in Francome’s career, then he is equally honest about what was a close second – luck.

“I was very, very lucky. The first book I wrote was called Born Lucky. I was in the right place at the right time,” added Francome.

“And you’ve got to be lucky with injuries. There were lots of good lads that were riding with me and they’d get injured and break a leg, and be off for a year, and you can’t pick up the threads again.

“My first ride was a boys’ race at Worcester for a farmer who lived at Sevenhampton, just outside of Swindon. All I can remember is that I had to lose a stone in weight to ride it. I felt as weak as a kitten riding it. And in my second ride, in a boys’ race at Cheltenham, I broke my wrist.

“That is par for the course in racing. We are going back to 1969 or 1970 and in those days, you could have three or four feet of snow every year. I broke my wrist and there was no racing for a while because there was snow on the ground, so by the time it got better, I was back riding again.

“I couldn’t have imagined the success I’d have. Everything fell into place just as I got going.

“I was riding for a lot of different trainers, due to Richard Pitman’s generosity, and when Richard retired, I took over riding all of his.

“I had a really good base of horses. You need a spread of trainers, so when your yard is out of form, someone else’s horses are running well.

“I was just lucky – blessed, really – and that’s the top and bottom of it. There are not many days that go by without me thinking how lucky I was.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

Francome carved out a successful career as a broadcaster for Channel 4 Racing after stepping away from the saddle

Francome stunned the racing world in 1985 when he announced his shock retirement at the tender age of 32. By comparison, AP McCoy did not jump out of the saddle for good until he was a decade older.

With more than 1,000 winners already past the post, the bug bear of all jockeys – weight management – became too much for him.

“It was the reason I packed up in the end. You get fed up of being hungry all the time. You are working hard every day and you are not eating. That’s the bottom line to it,” said Francome.

“After about two years of getting cramps, I just cut right down on what I was eating and ate the same thing day in, day out.

“I got fed up with being on a diet the whole time and wanted a normal life. I’d ridden plenty of winners and probably got a little bit bored with it, if I’m honest.

“I’ve never missed it. Lots of lads pack up and say they miss it. I’ve never missed it – one day.

“It was just one of those things. You go racing every day and keep going round the same courses and driving round the same rounds. I just fancied a change.”

Even after he hung up his silks, Francome was never far from the sport. After a brief spell as a trainer, he started working for Channel 4’s racing coverage before retiring from that role in 2012.

Alongside that, he also turned his hand to fiction writing, authoring more than 20 racing-themed novels, but he now says even his pen has been put away for good.

“I started working for Channel 4 not that long after I retired and worked for them for 27 years. I’ve only had two jobs, really. One was with Fred Winter and one was with High Flyer, who produced the Channel 4 programme,” said Francome.

“Live television is really good as it keeps you on your toes and I worked with a lot of nice people. All the cameramen were nice, all the electricians, the people in front of screen; they were a really nice bunch of people.

“I fell into writing by chance and found it bloody hard work, if I am honest. Some people love it, but for me, it was an effort.

“But they did well. The last 10 books were all good and plenty of people bought them. There were some bad ones, but there were some good ones too.

“I think I’ve done enough of that now, though. I think people have suffered enough.”