The Magnificent Seven [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONE'I COULD HAVE AN EACH-WAY CHANCE IN THE FIRST, AND I MAY WIN THE THIRD'Frankié Dettoriív/ derek heeney rose early on 28 September 1996. As a lad in Michael Stoute's famous Freemason Lodge stables in Newmarket, he was responsible for looking after the főurai year-old bay-coloured gelding Fujiyama Crest, a decent ^LM enough animal who had won a few races for Mr Hata, his eld-erly Japanese owner. Back in June the owner had travelled over to England to see the horse run at Royal Ascot, where, partnered by Pat Eddery, it had finished ninth of twenty-six runners over a 2'A mile race, one of the longest contests in the fiat racing calendar - but Mr Hata was unable to make it to Ascot for today's meeting.Today Fujiyama Crest was carrying top weight in the Gordon Carter Handicap - a contest in which he had triumphed twelve months previously. The nation's bookies and newspaper típsters were not antic-ipating a repeat performance. In the betting shops' 'Early Bird' lists of odds, chalked up on a daily basis before the betting exchanges at the racecourse got underway much later in the afternoon, he was on offer at generous-looking odds of 12/1 or better. Few racing writers fancied Fujiyama Crest following the disappointment of his last race, the Northumberland Plate on 29 June at Newcastle when he finished far down the field, even though today he was to be ridden by reigning champion jockey Frankié Dettori. Dettori knew the horse quite well, having ridden him three times before - in fact, he had won the same race on him last year, not to mention the race before that at Sandown.Not surprisingly, Derek Heeney did fancy Fujiyama - and intended to win himself a few bob as a result. 'He'd been humping 10