Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 35 · column 1 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
By Lauren R. Giannini
Special to the Times Newspapers
i” enny Pitman writes novels
set in the exciting back\Jr drop of National Hunt Racing in Britain. While she has been compared to Dick Francis, her novels aren’t mysteries, per se. They are more like literary sporting tapestries with thrills and drama that reflect similar events in her personal and professional life.
Pitman is the only woman to train two Grand National winners: Corbiere in 1983 and Royal Athlete in 1995. Her Aintree tally would have been three - Esha Ness crossed the finish line first in 1993, but officials ruled the Grand National “void” because of a false start.
Pitman’s training accomplishments include winning the Irish, Welsh and Scottish Grand Nationals as well as two Gold Cups. In 1984 she became the first woman to train a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Burrough Hill Lad, who also won the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup.
In 1998 Pitman appeared on the New Year’s Honours List when she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). The following year, the “first lady of racing” retired, having trained her last winner, Scarlet Emperor at Huntington.
Pitman grew up the middle child in a family of seven on her parents’ farm in Leicestershire and was a teen bride when she married jockey Richard Pitman, who sired her two sons, Mark and Paul. For details of the years leading up to their divorce, you can read “Jenny
83.7%