The 'Mars bar kid' who was given just days to live after complications at birth rides again at 64

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Brian Theaker, who became famous for feeding a horse a Mars bar that caused it to fail a drug test more than 40 years ago, is looking forward to the chance to ride a belated first winner on Saturday.

Taking part in the Macmillan Ride of Their Lives is the latest enterprise of a man given just days to live when he was born three months prematurely back in 1962 but who is poised to compete over 1m1f at York at the age of 64.

Theaker was a teenager working for Peter Easterby when he was at the centre of a 'doping' story that became front page news in 1979.

"We were going to Worcester with three horses and we were dropping someone off at Bangor with another," he recalled. "There wasn't enough room in the front so two of us ended up in the back with the horses.

"We'd left at about 2am and you know what you're like when you're kids, we stopped at a service station and loaded up with sweets and pop. I was eating a Mars bar, No Bombs was looking at me and the poor bugger had had nothing to eat since tea time the previous day so I gave him some.

"It wasn't a lot but it was enough to show up positive on a test. It was theobromine, a stimulant part of caffeine."

Failing a drug test meant disqualification and a showdown with his boss.

Theaker said: "I was only 17 and I was absolutely bricking it, thinking I was going to lose my job. But I think he was so relieved that he'd found out what had gone on that he didn't sack me. We lost the race but I kept my job.

"After that I was known as the Mars bar kid. It was on the front page of nearly every paper. I always laugh when I look back at it now. You've got to laugh in the face of adversity."

No adversity has been worse than the one he faced in his first few days of life.

"I was born on the Wednesday and the doctor said 'I can't see him lasting for the weekend'," he said. "I had quite a few complications, I had half a thumb missing on my left hand, a curved spine, club feet, yellow jaundice, partial paralysis down my left-hand side of my face.

"I weighed two pounds and I was too small to feed naturally or to bottle feed. They gave my mum a pipette, like you use in chemistry at school, and I've still got it now in its original box. They said 'Make up some sugar solution and give him it every half hour - he might just pull through.' He was amazed when he came back on the Monday and I was still here.

"I think that set me up for life. Whatever challenge you throw at me, I'm there to take it on."

He left racing in 2006 and now takes children with special educational needs all over the East Riding of Yorkshire.

But Theaker has been training hard for Saturday's race, which gives non-jockeys the chance to compete in front of a huge crowd while raising funds for Macmillan.

"It's gone as well as it could do," he said. "I've passed the riding assessment and the fitness test. I'll be riding Intinso, who was rated 99 at one time. He lost his form and has got a bit of a heart condition but he still possesses some ability. It all depends on what else is in the race."

Theaker is less than £700 short of his £5,000 target, although his past record counted against one source of funding.

"I recently had a call from a lass whose friend is north-eastern area manager for Spillers horse feeds and they are owned by Mars," he said.

"She tried to get Mars to sponsor the guy who gave the horse a Mars bar. But they didn't want to be associated with something that caused a horse to fail a dope test. However, Spillers very kindly put £100 into my JustGiving page."

Notorious cases

No Bombs was famously disqualified after eating part of a Mars bar, but he was far from being the highest-profile victim of the substance theobromine that was contained in the chocolate he ate.

Theobromine was also the cause of two much more momentous disqualifications less than 12 months later. Tied Cottage (Cheltenham Gold Cup) and Chinrullah (Queen Mother Champion Chase) both won decisively at the Cheltenham Festival in 1980, but both tested positive.

Neither had eaten a Mars bar but traces of theobromine were found in their post-race samples, caused by feed that had been accidentally contaminated. All three horses won by wide margins and no-one suggested they were "doped" in any meaningful sense. No-one was to blame, but disqualification was inevitable.
John Randall

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