Our rich racing history provides us with stories of great champion thoroughbreds, their triumphs and their tragedies - horses that were so talented they were never beaten, and those that had the dubious distinction of always being beaten.
The son of a poor butcher, John Gully rose to the height of Victorian respectability, whose death in ripe old age was mourned by all classes from paupers to princes.
Horseracing happens literally every day of the year - which is why unique and unusual events are almost commonplace in the Sport of Kings, Queens and commoners, even when that day in designed to fool you - as many felt was the case when, on 1 April 1929, a jockey named Frank Wise didn't live up to his name as he was unwise enough to ride in the Irish Grand National with only one leg and minus the tops of three fingers - yet he and his mount, Alike, won the race.
