#BettingPeople: GRAHAM THORNER

#BettingPeople: Graham Thorner was champion jump jockey in the 1970/71 season with 74 winners and won the Grand National in 1972 on the gambled on Well To Do. In this series of four interviews, he tells his fascinating story to Simon Nott.

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GRAHAM THORNER (part 1 of 4)

Graham talks about his early life in racing which started in 1964 working for the formidable Tim Forster at the age of 15. He remembers from the tough times as a young lad to becoming champion jockey a few years later and the colourful characters he rode against in his early years.

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GRAHAM THORNER (part 2 of 4)

Graham, born in 1949, talks about how he got the racing bug, his first winner at Newton Abbot in 1966, how he got his nickname ‘Whanger’ his relationship with Tim Forster as a 15-year professional jockey, riding 650 winners before retiring in 1979.

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GRAHAM THORNER (part 3 of 4)

Graham talks about jockeys having punters back in the day and how it worked, starting out as a trainer with Sheikh Mohammed as a patron, getting more satisfaction from training than riding, why he thinks it didn’t take off, and being the victim of a freak accident at Newbury where ‘The Lads’ indirectly came to his aid getting compensation.

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GRAHAM THORNER (part 4 of 4)

Graham talks about how he’s involved in the game now, the highlight of his career, how winning the Grand National brought more fame and respect than being champion jockey despite doing so in an era of great riders, looking back at a lifetime in horseracing and a few modern-day issues he’d like to get off his chest, low sun anyone?

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GRAHAM THORNER #BettingPeople PODCAST

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