LONDON, Feb 15 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Best-selling crime writer Dick Francis, who drew on his experience as a successful steeplechase jockey for his racing thrillers, has died aged 89, the BBC said on Sunday.
Francis rode more than 350 winners, and was champion jockey before injury forced him to take up the pen, first writing for a national newspaper as a racing correspondent and then producing more than 40 novels, many of them international bestsellers.
Racing pundits said Francis would be remembered for riding the Queen Mother's horse Devon Loch when it inexplicably belly-flopped when close to winning Britain's most prestigious race, the Grand National, in 1956.
"He was the kind of man everybody in racing liked, and they all knew he was a gentleman, but I think he will forever be remembered for that moment of defeat in the Grand National, and the dignity that he showed," racing commentator John McCririck told Sky news.
"Can you imagine losing that great prize, such a traumatic event, the horse spread-eagled 50 yards ... from the winning post."
Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, a keen horseracing fan, was among the most avid readers of his novels, always receiving the first edition.
Francis, the son of a stable manager and born in Wales, left school at the age of 15. He served with the Royal Air Force during World War Two as a pilot.
He was one of Britain's most successful postwar national hunt jockeys, although he never won the Grand National.
His career was brought to an end in 1957 when he retired after a serious fall.
His award-winning books, packed with mystery and intrigue, with the racing world invariably used as a background, included "Dead Cert", "In the Frame" and "To the Hilt".
bdnews24.com/kms/1035h.
