Mark's story: Broad Hinton trainer Sally Randell writes about Mark Hampson who died at Prospect Hospice earlier this month
Mark Hampson, the Royal Artillery Gold Cup and BrodieSunday, May 1 was a sad day for all of us at the yard - Mark Hampson our great owner and friend lost his battle against cancer.
Mark, father to our star Jockey Brodie Hampson, battled cancer in 2009 and was given the all clear in 2010. He had a great few years following Brodie's career after she started working with me when she was 16 - after she finished school.
Brodie grew up in the Barracks of 47 Regiment Royal Artillery in which Mark Served for 23 years and in which I served for five years. Mark was loved by all and was a very well respected soldier. He fought for our country in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan and in the middle of all that he did a six month UN tour in Cyprus.
It is towards the latter part of Mark's career that our fantastic story began. We ended up in the same Battery together - Mark was a sergeant and I was put in his detachment for one very cold tactical exercise on Salisbury Plain. It was down to him that three inches of snow never affected our morale. Mark had great Army spirit and he made digging trenches all night to keep warm into a fun exercise instead of a bad one!
Before I left the Army I did a three month stint working at the regimental stables where Brodie (then aged 11) kept her pony. She was very shy and didn’t say much and everywhere I turned she was there following me.
She finished school just at the point when I had set up my first yard in South Wales and she came to work for me and we haven’t looked back. A mini bus full of fans came from the Army Barracks to watch her first point-to-point ride - which she won!
Brodie wearing Mark's racing colours on point-to-pointer Spare Change - with Sally RandellFrom then on the whole family was hooked.
Mark brought Brodie her first pointer called Spare Change and we designed his colours and had them made. He was a great horse for us but he had second-itis and had four second places on the bounce!
In 2014 Mark's cancer came back and we made a plan to find a horse suitable for the Military races at Sandown Park. Brodie, as the daughter of a serving soldier, is eligible to ride in the Royal Artillery Gold Cup for the rest of her life.
We purchased Fort George for Mark in September 2014 and prepped him for the race in February 2015. Unfortunately Brodie broke her collarbone in a fall two weeks before the race, so I got the leg up to replace her. It was a privilege to ride for Mark in the race - and to come a very respectable fourth.
We all feared the worse as Mark's condition deteriorated and in December 2015 he was taken into Swindon Hospital and given 30 days to live. It was by a miracle that he got a bed in the Prospect Hospice in Wroughton where, with expert care, he kept fighting on.
(l to r) Callum, Brodie, Mark and Jan Hampson, Sally Randell in the Sandown paddockAs the Sandown meeting in February got closer, Mark was still keeping very stable and when the entries came out for the 2016 Royal Artillery Gold Cup it seemed as though fate took a hand. A Bangor-on-Dee race meeting was abandoned due to waterlogging and a suitable horse Jennys Surprise came into the mix for Sandown.
Jennys Surprise was trained by my partner, Fergal O’Brien. He gave Brodie the leg up and Mark leased the mare for the day to run in his colours.
On the day of the race it was like someone from above was making our magical day happen: Mark, who had hardly left the Hospice in two months, felt well enough to go to the races. The family was there with Mark: his wife Jan, his son Callum and daughter Brodie.
During the race Jenny looked sure to be beaten - two fences from home she was still fifteen lengths behind the leader. But she kept creeping closer and a fine jump at the last saw her gallop on and pass her two rivals to lead just before the winning post. It was a special and an emotional day, but it made Mark's fight end with wonderful meaning.
Brodie went on to win ‘Jockey of the Month’ for her special win and even rode my first winner as a trainer nine days later on Mark's horse Goal at Southwell.
Mark will live on due to his special friends and family - and now he has his name on the wall at Sandown Park to remind us all of him - and to remember such a wonderful man and a wonderful story.