Thomas Crapper: 'They bought him for £8,000 and he won them nearly £140,000'

Fans' Favourites is a weekly feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they tug on our heartstrings. This week's subject: Thomas Crapper

Thomas Crapper was a nineteenth century English businessman who revolutionized the world's plumbing industry with his business, Thomas Crapper & Co by inventing the U-bend as well as owning the first bath, toilet and sink showroom.

A century on from his death, Crapper's pioneering spirit was replicated through his equine namesake, a remarkably progressive racehorse for Warwickshire trainer Robin Dickin.

A regular at Cheltenham, running 16 times at the course including back-to-back wins in handicaps at the October and November meetings, 'Crappy' as he was affectionately known at home captured the hearts of the racing public with his consistent performances on the big stage but the gelding's journey was hardly foreseen from the get go.

"My mum [Claire] bought him as a foal from Doncaster to keep company with a homebred," explains Dickin's daughter Harriet.

"They lived in the field together for a couple of years and when they were two Crappy kicked the other one and broke his hock and he had to be put down. Crappy killed his mate basically but it looks like we got stuck with the right one!

"His name obviously made him very popular. It's funny people tried to call him Thomas because they think that's what you'd call him but 'Crappy' is his name."

"I didn't really have a huge amount to do with him when he was a young horse because I was at school. He was quite naughty and quirky to break in and he had a lot of Flat work with Richard Evans because he was a bit of a handful.

"He's so intelligent and I wouldn't give them all that credit but he is freakishly intelligent. He ran 50 times and he never fell, he unseated once. He finished most races. He's unbelievable."

Charlie Poste was on board for all but three of those races and deals with young horses on a daily basis as part of his successful breaking and pre-training operation he runs in his retirement as a jumps jockey with wife Francesca Nimmo.

"It'd be easy to say we always thought he'd go on and be a really nice horse," reflects Poste. "He wasn't very fashionably bred at all.

"Robin was having a pretty good time of it but he was a horse for a yard that sort of size that looked like he could be a nice enough prospect.

"I don't think anyone at the time thought he would go on and be placed at three Cheltenham Festivals, win a Greatwood Gold Cup and two races at Cheltenham. Not for one second."

A familiar sight: Thomas Crapper surges up the Cheltenham hillCredit: Edward Whitaker

Dickin was enjoying the success of Restless Harry, who won his third Grade 2 in as many years in the 2012 Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock while Crappy's best was still yet to come.

Winless in three bumpers and three hurdle races, Thomas Crapper ended the season with a useful fifth in the EBF Final at Sandown demonstrating signs of progression.

Having got off the mark in his next race, a novice hurdle at Worcester, Thomas Crapper made his first trip to the home of jump racing and finished a respectable third behind The New One, who went on to earn over a million pounds in prize money for the Twiston-Davies team.

Bumping into Graded performers and running such huge races was part of the reason Crappy was so admired from within and outside the racing public and, after a confidence-boosting 28-length rout at Towcester on Boxing Day 2012 for his second career win, he was set for his best season yet in 2013-14.

Dickin delivered a superb training performance as Thomas Crapper hung on to win a 2m5f handicap hurdle at Cheltenham's October meeting by three-quarters of a length at 12-1 after 224 days off the track. A month later he repeated the feat off a 6lb higher mark and was underestimated in the market again at 16-1.

Watch Thomas Crapper's Cheltenham win at the November meeting

"He was off a nice mark starting there and for everyone it was a great day for a yard like that. For someone like myself to have a winner at Cheltenham and then to back it up at the November meeting like he did was fantastic," said Poste.

Crappy was not to be underestimated again when sent off 9-2 favourite for the Grade 2 handicap hurdle at Ascot and although he finished fourth, it demonstrated just how far he had progressed in a short space of time.

Poste would be forced to sit out on Crappy's first appearance at the Cheltenham Festival later that season as he was entered for the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle, with Poste ineligible as a professional jockey.

Crappy delivered another mighty performance, finishing second under Joseph Palmowski behind future RSA Chase winner and Gold Cup third Don Poli.

Thomas Crapper chases home future Grade 1 regular Don Poli in the Martin PipeCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Poste said: "It was one of the few times I didn't ride him but he then went and ran a massive race to be second in the boys' race behind Don Poli which was huge all things considered when you look at the horses behind him that day."

Also forced to watch on from afar that day was Harriet much to her dismay. "I remember when he was second at the festival I was working in Ireland. Mum always used to say to me if we have a runner at the festival you can have the day off school to go and watch and we never had.

"Then the year I left school he ran and I wasn't there and I remember being really upset."

A year later, Poste would be back on board as Crappy lined up the 6-1 favourite for the Novices' Handicap Chase, a race won by the likes of A Plus Tard and Imperial Aura in recent years before being moved to Sandown.

Following a promising novice chase season with four placed efforts out of five heading into the festival, Poste said: "We massively fancied him going there that day and I remember jumping the last third or fourth and hit the front on the far side of the track then all of a sudden Irish Cavalier came flying by him and won impressively.

"Of course he went on to be a future Graded winner [Charlie Hall Chase] which is what you see more often in those Cheltenham Festival handicaps. Much as it was a good day it was one of those, I can't lie and say I didn't walk away from there feeling a bit disappointed because I really thought that might be my day to ride a Cheltenham Festival winner."

Charlie Poste watches on as Paul Townend celebrates aboard Irish CavalierCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Poste, who had already won a Welsh National and a Classic Chase before winning the Greatwood Gold Cup aboard Thomas Crapper in 2017 said: "As a jockey I had had a reasonable career but I was not a big name rider and for Robin, who's a decent trainer but was lacking star horses from that moment on, he became a real flag bearer for all of us.

"He won a couple of big prizes round Newbury, the Greatwood Gold Cup as well so all in all he was just a really special horse. He was the sort of horse that every yard needs. You could run him at the big tracks at the big races."

One of those big races came in the form of an Irish adventure with a trip to Punchestown, which, unlike the Martin Pipe, Harriet was not going to be missing out on.

Dickin, who is an event rider explains: "I was competing in Ireland the week before so I'd gone out with my horses, done this competition, dropped my horses at a friend's house for the week and then Tom George's lot brought Crappy over.

"We went and met him at the boat and I rode him and led him up the next day. Because the fences are different in Ireland I had to school him the day before he ran. Mum was like 'don't fall off! I will kill you if you fall off!'

"I jumped these fences on him and managed to stay on much to my relief and he then just proceeded to piss off up the hill with me."

Dickin's schooling did the trick as Crappy managed a clear round to finish seventh in a competitive handicap chase typical of the sort of race he would run in. "He wasn't a prolific winner but that was because he kept incredibly good company," said Poste.

"He was pitching up in all the good races. He always gave us his running and he was always there or thereabouts.

Thomas Crapper replicated his high quality hurdle form over fencesCredit: ST Parade7/7/16

"He was very well handled by Robin and their team. To have him consistently run like he did for so long in that sort of company is testament to the trainer more than anything else.

"Whether it was the most flattering name I don't know but it sort of grabbed everyone's attention and the fact that he ran in a lot of big races on Saturdays when people from outside the sport are watching, he seemed to resonate with a lot of people.

"Bar a select few riders, those sort of horses don't come along week in week out and for one to be around as long and for me to ride him as many times as I did means he's a horse I hold very dear to my heart."

The trainer is modest in his assessment and is just pleased to have the horse with him in his retirement. Robin said: "He's still here and very much under our wing and looks a picture. He goes to different RoR [Retraining of Racehorses] things and different racecourse parades which he loves.

Crappy, who provided so much joy to all involved during his racecourse career including the 18 members of the apis.com.uk syndicate who owned him, is now bringing pleasure for others in his retirement.

Harriet said: "Mum bought him for £1,000 and the owners bought him for £8,000 a couple of years later and won them nearly £140,000.

Harriet Dickin (left) looks after 'Crappy' in his retirementCredit: Harriet Dickin

"He's 14 now and he lives with me at home, in the yard. I hunt him and I share him with a lady that works with me, Jo Day, who's a healthcare visitor four days a week. She does some RoR showing on him.

Robin adds: "She [Jo] has taken him right under her wing. He's the love of her life. She's very much a novice rider, he enjoys taking the mickey out of her. She's been through desperate times of tiredness and he's given her such joy."

"He's always been a massive character," continues Harriet. "He's like a human, he knows exactly what he wants. I've tried to event him but he won't go near the water.

"I'm taking him up to Norfolk for a wedding to go hunting as part of the wedding. He's no hassle really. He lives out most of the time, he doesn't like staying in that much. He's been an incredible horse for all of us really."

Spectators at Cheltenham’s Countryside Day will be able to see Thomas Crapper in the flesh as part of the RoR parade between 11.25am and 11.40am on Friday, November 12, where he will be parading with the likes of Gold Cup winner Coneygree, Grand National hero Pineau Du Re and Cotswold Chase scorer Smad Place, demonstrating the high regard Crappy is held within the racing community.

Read more from our Fans' Favourites series:

Comply Or Die: 'You couldn't believe how well it went – it was surreal'

Silviniaco Conti: 'His jumping never let him down – he was absolutely class'

Secretariat: 'He was something else – I'm still waiting to see one as good'

Lady Bowthorpe: 'Even on Newmarket Heath, people know who she is'

Quiet Reflection: 'It poured down but we didn't care as she destroyed them'

Alpha Delphini: 'I asked them to stick me 50 quid each-way on that morning

Canford Cliffs: 'He was one of the best racehorses in the last 50 years'

Taghrooda: 'She turned towards the stands and everyone was going absolutely mad'

Kingman: 'There are some in the camp who think he'd have beaten Frankel'

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