WIN FOR R.A.F.

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20993, 21 December 1939, Page 12

WIN FOR R.A.F.

AIRCRAETSMAN’S GOOD LUCK TRAINED HORSE HIMSELF (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, Nov. 21 He tipped a 20-1 winner--an aircraftman in a Midland R.A.F. camp. Officers and men backed his tip, and last night there were celebrations. But the aircraftsman's hjrse was not one he had picked out with a pin. He had trained it himself, in his hours off dpty. Masseur was the horse, the Sileby Handicap ’Chase, run at Leicester at 1.30 was the race—and the trainer was 26-years-old Aircraftsman John Bateman Luddington. Mr Luddington was a racehorse trainer in civil life. Just before the war he joined the Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and when called up he took three of his horses with him and stabled them near his camp. Masseur was one of them. He Saw It Win At this Midland aerodrome I spoke to Mr Luddington shortly after he had returned from Leicester races, where, by special permission, he had been able to be present to see his horse win, states a Daily Mail reporter. “The authorities here have been very considerate about allowing me to carry on with my training,” he told me. “In fact, I have been able to use the aerodrome as a galloping ground. Many of the fellows here have become very interested in my horses, and had a bit on old Masseur. Fortunately for me, he won! “Masseur was second in a race on the last day of peace, and now has won at the first National Hunt meeting in war-time.” Mr Luddington told me that Masseur won so easily that he would probably run him at Leicester again.