The secrets behind his jockey days, the final part!

Basil:-  ‘Colonel Alexander asked me to come down to London to talk to Davy and make him see the tremendous chance that he was throwing away.  I agreed, but I said that if I thought that if Davy had completely made up his mind, I wouldn’t persuade him to hard, I would just take him back to Newmarket with me.  So, I arranged to be at the agent’s office near Piccadilly Circus at the same time as Davy’.

Davy:-  ‘Yes, I thought it was a coincidence.  You worked it very well and I’m glad you did because if you hadn’t, then the Monkees would probably have never been created or, anyway, I wouldn’t have been part of them.  I think that argument that most impressed me was when Basil said, ‘don’t be a mug.  Why work with other peoples horses, when you can go to America, make a lot of money and buy your own.’’

Basil:-  ‘The arguments had gone on for some time.  I didn’t really push Davy too hard because I didn’t want to force him into doing something he didn’t really want to do.  But when I said that bit about the horses, he turned round to me and said ‘Is that what you really want me to do, Governor?’, and I said as firmly as I could, ‘Yes’.’

Davy:- ‘So, once again I packed my bags, but this time, instead of taking a train for a few hundred miles, I had to cross three thousand miles of ocean and the thought of all that distance between New York and my home, did upset me quite a bit.  One thing that helped a lot was knowing the other people in the show.  A lot of them went to America as well, so it wasn’t as though I was suddenly landed with a bunch of complete strangers.’

Basil:-  ‘I did have quite a few qualms of conscience after he had gone.  I thought to myself, supposing he runs into trouble, or has an accident, or is just unsuccessful, although I didn’t think that was possible.  But you know how you worry once you have persuaded somebody to do something.  But, fortunately, it turned out very well.’

Davy:- ‘It wasn’t all smooth.  We had a great time when ‘Oliver’ was hitting the headlines in New York, but after I left the show things were a bit tough and I couldn’t see where I was going next.  I wanted to talk things over with my father and friends in England and, in fact, I did come back to England just before the Monkees started.’

Basil:-  ‘He stayed with me for six weeks and we often went to the Sands at Redcar with the horses.  I remember on one of the journeys home, Davy turned to me and said, ‘Governor, does your offer still stand to come back?’  I told him it did, but I thought that he ought to wait because I am sure that everything would turn out alright.  He then told me that he was going back to do the Monkee show’. 

Davy:-  ‘Yes, If the show had flopped, I would probably have packed show-business in, but luckily, it wasn’t or I wouldn’t be talking to your today’.

Basil:-  ‘You might have gone back to the stables for a time, Davy, but I don’t think you would have stayed.  I believe that you have got show-business in your blood and that you would have come out on top some way or other’.

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