How Charlie Mann tricked officials and won the Pardubicka on a fake licence

As Charlie Mann winds up a training career that has often seen him butt heads with the authorities, he has told the Racing Post how he got one over on Czech officials by riding Its A Snip to win the fearsome Velka Pardubicka in 1995 on a fake homemade licence.

Mann was looking back as part of a major interview in Sunday's newspaper, in which he reveals many astonishing stories from down the years and pulls no punches in discussing many different sectors of the racing industry.

The Velka Pardubicka, which is run in the Czech Republic, provided one of the great successes of his career and was a race that had long fascinated him.

"I went out there with someone called Gavin Wragg, who was a sort of bon viveur from Ireland," he said, "and I thought it wouldn't take much winning. When I started training it was always in the back of my mind and I found a horse at the sales, Its A Snip, whom Ted Walsh was selling.

We'd bought him, for not much money, in August 1994 and the race was in October, so I couldn't get a run into him, but I finished second on him. He was one of three horses I rode out there and I hadn't ridden for five years, so I was f***ed!"

Charlie Mann: conned Czech officialsCredit: Matthew Webb

Mann's long absence from the saddle meant he didn't have the required licence and found himself getting a £1,000 fine for using an Arab racing licence – but that didn't stop him having another go the following year, albeit not going through the channels the Czech authorities assumed he would.

"On the questionnaire it said, 'Have you ever been turned down for a licence?', which I had," he said. "The authorities found out and I got fined, but no-one thought – having got caught the first time – that I wouldn't have a licence the following year, so I made my own and printed it.

"They thought the licence was real because they thought I wouldn't have the neck to ride without one. It's down as the National Steeplechase Association, it's meant to be an American one. I completely spoofed it and it worked a treat."

There was a sting in the tail for Mann after Its A Snip went on to win, although it came from a source closer to home.

"I took a woman out there to impress her and we nearly got engaged when we got back, but then she ran off with a married polo player!"

Read more from Charlie Mann in The Big Read, available online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday or in Sunday's Racing Post newspaper. Join Members' Club here.

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