Jump.

Leaving prison, my hero works in a yard and dreams of becoming a jockey. Like many stable staff, he realizes this dream by taking a course at the excellent Northern Racing College in Doncaster. Again, I must thank the racing school's training coordinator, Mich.e.l.le Beardsley, for her help.

It was also a great thrill to watch Leroy Jones, a stable lad at Tom George's, come fourth out of a large field when he made his debut in the Berkeley Hunt point-to-point at Woodford last year. I would like to thank John Berkeley, president of the hunt, hunt secretary Tom Whittaker and Louis Purvis, head of the hunt supporters, for a marvellous afternoon.

One of my favourite characters in Jump Jump! is Chisolm, a goat, who becomes Mrs Wilkinson's inseparable companion after being rescued from a dreadful fate. I would like to thank Southern Animal Rights Coalition, and especially Niccy Tapping, for their help on this subject. Marilyn Sheppard, a goat addict, told me some wonderful stories about these idiosyncratic creatures. I am hugely indebted to Hazel Johns for sharing her wonderful knowledge of geese and ganders and for her take on the mysteries of nature.

I must thank Tom and Sophie George for inviting me to a Lawn Meet at their house, where I was able to witness in glorious surroundings how hunting operates after the ban.

Another stepping stone in the book was meeting Tom and Sophie's then head lad, Sally (Minnie) Hall, who is encyclopaedic in her knowledge of horses and racing, and spent hours discussing my story with me. To see her working with horses was also an inspiration and although we miss her in Gloucesters.h.i.+re I am glad she is now a trainer herself in Bedfords.h.i.+re and one of her young horses, Clerk's Choice, has already notched up three wins.

The winter game, as jump racing is romantically known, produces, like Minnie, the most marvellous women: strong, combining beauty with kindness like Shakespeare's Sylvia, capable of rising in the dark to ride out, partying until first light, yet retaining a work ethic to die for. Glamorous Amazons I call them Glamazons.

Two Glamazons Liz Ampairee, marketing guru, and Jacques Malone, who runs her own PR company in Dublin truly looked after me while I wrote Jump Jump!, endlessly answering questions, coming up with ideas, taking me to the races, introducing me to owners, trainers and jockeys, and entering wonderfully into the spirit of the book.

Jacques, in particular, took me and Liz on a magic trip to Dublin, which included a day at Leopardstown races, for which I must thank Jane Davies, a glorious dinner in the evening given by J. P. and Noreen McMa.n.u.s and a fascinating and illuminating Cheltenham Preview at the Shelbourne Hotel hosted by Betchronicle the following night. All this provided terrific copy for the book. I cannot begin to express my thanks enough to Liz and Jacques.

Another Glamazon is Carey Buckler, daughter of trainer Bob Buckler, who came for a couple of days' work experience and ended up regaling me with marvellous tales about everyone in racing. Another was Charlotte Kinchin, who after waitressing at the Pheasant Inn, riding out and driving round trainers, was a mine of glorious gossip.

Hospitality in jump racing is Olympian. Nothing lifts the spirits on a bitterly cold winter's day like a Bull Shot or a gla.s.s of champagne in a warm box. I am, therefore, eternally grateful to my dear former editor Veronica Wadley and her husband Tom Bower, John Boyle of Boyle Sports, the team from Betchronicle, Harriet Collins at Johnno Spencer Consultancy, John Woodhatch of Equine Effects, and Emma Jesson the weather queen.

Libelling humans is to be avoided in books, and even worse is to libel a horse. So I tried very hard, particularly with badly behaved horses, not to give them names that had been used before. Huge thanks therefore to Rachel Andrews and Emma Day at Weatherbys and Jo Saunders for checking these names for me and I hope none has slipped through the net.

There is quite a lot of s.e.x in Jump Jump! some of it equine. I am therefore most grateful to John Sharp of Weatherbys' stud department for his advice and to Ali Rea for arranging a miraculous visit to the Darley Stud in Newmarket. Here Richard Knight took me on an exhilarating tour of the breeding yards and the stables, where I was thrilled to meet the mighty New Approach.

I would also like to thank Ed Sackville, an ace bloodstock agent, Jane Mead and Corrin Wood who told me about rearing thoroughbred foals. My neighbour, Penny Smith, a Highland pony breeder, whose mares and foals and visiting stallions across the valley are a constant joy, waxed lyrical on the equine delights of 'stolen service'.

Most of the people who helped me in the writing of the book are experts in their field, but as Jump Jump! is fiction I'm afraid I only followed their advice when it suited my plot. My woman jockey, for example, breaks the rules by remounting in a point-to-point around 2005 and, as I believe in miracles, criminally maltreated horses recover and win big races.

And talking of miracles it would be difficult to overstate my admiration for the racing press, who file such immaculate, exciting and poetic copy at such lightning speed. Icons include Brough Scott, Marcus Armytage, Alan Lee, Julian Muscat, Charlie Brooks, Jonathan Powell, Colin Mackenzie, Marcus Townend, Alastair Down, Andrew Longmore, Robin Oakley, the great revered John Oaksey and Ivor Herbert, and the late lamented Clement Freud.

The Racing Post Racing Post is another miracle, as readable as it is all-embracing. I am so grateful to its editor, Bruce Millington, and a.s.sociate editor, another greyhound lover, Howard Wright.

Normally I write in a gazebo at the bottom of the garden, but I abandoned this for the top of the house so I could watch racing coverage on Channel 4, the BBC and the glorious At The Races The Races while I worked. I must thank all three for the beauty, information and entertainment of their programmes and would express particular grat.i.tude to the great John and b.o.o.by McCririck, Richard Pitman, Robert Cooper (who loves Material World), Jim McGrath, Mike Cattermole who took me up to the commentary box at Cheltenham, Clare Balding, Johnnie Francome, Matt Chapman, Sean Boyce, Alice Plunkett, Luke Harvey, Nick Luck and the irrepressible Derek Thompson. while I worked. I must thank all three for the beauty, information and entertainment of their programmes and would express particular grat.i.tude to the great John and b.o.o.by McCririck, Richard Pitman, Robert Cooper (who loves Material World), Jim McGrath, Mike Cattermole who took me up to the commentary box at Cheltenham, Clare Balding, Johnnie Francome, Matt Chapman, Sean Boyce, Alice Plunkett, Luke Harvey, Nick Luck and the irrepressible Derek Thompson.

Jump! is largely based in a Cotswold village called Willowwood, which in a way resembles our lovely village of Bisley, which has a beautiful church, a great school and a golden stone high street. No one in the story, however, is based on any living person and any similarities are purely coincidental, unless the person is so famous, like John McCririck, that he appears as himself.

Many other people helped me with Jump Jump! Our own delightful vicar, Simon Richards, and curate, Stephen Jarvis, were eloquent on church matters. Tree surgeon Tim Bendle and Simon Toomer, who runs the glorious Wes...o...b..rt Arboretum, advised me on trees. Phil Bradley, who drove me all over the country, initiated me into the skills and hazards of goalkeeping. Rupert Proctor advised me on betting. Inspector Mark Ravenscroft of Operational Services and Chris Miller were brilliant on explosives, and my super lawyer, Graham Ogilvie, wised me up on the law. Adam and Nat Phillips inspired me on houses and c.o.c.kpit-shaped offices as did Judy Zatonski on greyhounds. Bill Holland with his usual sweet nature answered the most obscure musical queries. Wonderful Stephen Simson at Hatchards as usual tracked down endless books. Susanna Franklyn was witty and illuminating on the theatre. Bob and Derelie Cherry enlightened me on rose grafting as did Mariska Kay on lovely clothes and Anne s.p.a.ckman of Kenneth Green a.s.sociates on lovely scent.

I would also like to thank my wonderful bank, h.o.a.res, and especially Bella Hopewell and John Gallop for looking after me.

On the veterinary front, I had great advice from my own vet, John Hunter and his staff at Bowbridge Veterinary Group, from s.h.i.+rley Bevan and, particularly on hairline fractures, from Emma Ridgeway at the Willesley Equine Clinic.

Pat Pearson and my own doctor, Tim Crouch, advised on medical matters, and my super dentist Terry Mason on straightening buck teeth.

Of the younger generation, Poppy and Charlie Stirland, Harry Luard and Kit Cooper educated me on teenage slang, and Luke and Freddie Mander on excellent speeches.

Willowwood is threatened by widespread flooding in Jump Jump! A huge thanks therefore to our local neighbourhood warden, Ashley Nicholson, for providing graphic descriptions of wrestling with the Gloucesters.h.i.+re floods and the helicopter rescues these entailed. Our own local papers, particularly the Stroud News Stroud News, the Citizen Citizen and the and the Gloucester Echo Gloucester Echo, also covered these events most dramatically.

Meanwhile, Martin Meade and pilots Robin Gibson and Garry Hodge advised me on helicopters; photographers Gavin James and Les Hurley kept me supplied with wonderful pictures of racing and horses.

There was huge excitement recently when our Bisley Compost Scheme won an MBE for all their hard work. One of the scheme's pioneers, Liz Howlett, and Anna Shepard, Green writer on The Times The Times and author of the wonderful and author of the wonderful How Green Are My Wellies How Green Are My Wellies, gave me marvellous advice on ecology. I have to confess to a slightly irreverent portrayal of Mrs Travis-Lock, my eco-warrior in Jump Jump!, but as a character she is staunchness personified.

Over the past few years, a ravis.h.i.+ng Queen Anne house across the road has been gutted and lovingly restored by a team from Ward & Co. of the Ryeford Industrial Estate, headed by their general manager Gary Perrins. During this period, they regaled me with hilarious stories of work in progress. Despite the roads closed and traffic hold-ups, we missed them hugely when they went.

I must also thank Shaun Moore, an expert on graffiti on white vans.

My friends, as always, provided magical input; they include Maria Prendagast, my sister-in-law Angela Sallitt, Rudolph Agnew, Peregrine Hodson, Susan Kyle, Antony Winlaw, Suzie Dowty, Laura Cooper, Mandy Pitman, Rupert and Ollie Miles, David Cull, Miriam Francome, Deborah Waters, Janetta Lee, Lucy Lane-Fox, Jemima Khan, Arthur Wade and Pete Curtis.

I have listed the names of so many people but to my shame I took down the telephone numbers of many others, but never found time to follow them up. For this I apologize, and even more so to anyone whose help I sought and haven't included.

Now to the book itself. I am utterly blessed in my publishers, Transworld, who truly know how to cherish and inspire. I cannot thank Larry Finlay, my darling editor Linda Evans and her hawk-eyed PA Joanne Williamson enough for all their kindness. Claire Ward and Henry Steadman produced a most stylish jacket, and I am honoured that Neil Gower, who won Jacket of the Year for Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies, has drawn such a beautiful and witty map.

Deborah Adams tackled the copy-editing, while Katrina Whone and Vivien Garrett ably managed the progress of the book through its copy-editing and proof-reading stages. For the typesetters, Betty Leggett amended the text with inimitable speed and accuracy.

One of the reasons I love finis.h.i.+ng a book is because I can work again with the divine Nicky Henderson, my freelance publicist, and the fantastic publicity team at Transworld, headed up by the lovely Patsy Irwin.

I am also blessed with the most wonderful agent, the wise and warm-hearted Vivienne Schuster. She and Linda Evans must have felt like midwives delivering elephant quads as I laboured to finish Jump Jump! but their sweetness and encouragement never faltered. I am also delighted Viv has taken on a bright and beautiful a.s.sistant, Felicity Blunt, who gave me excellent advice on developing characters.

Once again, the true heroines are my friends, my PA Anna Gibbs-Kennet, Annette Xuereb-Brennan, Mandy Williams and my former PAs Pippa Birch, Pam Dhenin and Pam's daughter Zoe. They dropped everything to produce a huge and beautiful ma.n.u.script in record time, typing long into the night, wrestling with my increasingly indecipherable writing, then carrying out a million corrections, pointing out errors and making suggestions. I cannot thank them enough, or Sue Kilmister for also helping me with a later draft.

I would like to add an extra thanks to dear Anna Gibbs-Kennet, who not only masterminded the production of the ma.n.u.script but kept my office running smoothly at the same time and dealt with a million loose ends.

I must also praise the kindness and resourcefulness of Steve Perry, my husband's carer, who spends a lot of time looking after me. He was brilliant, sorting out various computers when they started playing up and checking facts. When Steve is away, Hazel Johns steps in and cheers us all up with her sweetness and expertise.

Nor would I survive for a second without my wonderful housekeeper Ann Mills, who has somehow put up with our family for twenty-five years. Ann and her great friend Moira Hatherall skip out our house as cheerfully and heroically as any stable lads, always leave it beautiful and provide so much comfort and love.

My own family has, as always, been beyond reproach. My brave husband Leo, a great publisher, who gives me wonderful advice; Felix and his wife Edwina and their daughter Scarlett; my daughter Emily, her husband Adam, their three sons, Jago, Lysander and Acer; Feral the cat, and our collective dogs: Feather the greyhound, Bobby the Labrador and William the mongrel, have once again provided their essential mixture of love, fantastic copy and good cheer.

I am also deeply grateful to Monica, my ancient manual typewriter, who, when computers crashed, never put a key wrong.

Finally, I would like to thank thoroughbred horses everywhere for racing their hearts out and for the joy and excitement this brings the public, and plead that their lovely, sensitive and trusting natures should never be abused.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Jilly Cooper is a journalist, writer and media superstar. The author of many number one bestselling novels, she lives in Gloucesters.h.i.+re with her husband Leo, her rescue greyhound Feather and her black cat Feral.

She was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to literature, and in 2009 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Gloucesters.h.i.+re for her contribution to literature and services to the County.

Also by Jilly Cooper

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Polo

The Man Who Made Husbands

Jealous

Appa.s.sionata

Score!

Pandora

Wicked!

NON-FICTION.

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Cla.s.s

How to Survive Christmas

Hotfoot to Zabriskie Point (with

Patrick Lichfield)

Intelligent and Loyal

Jolly Marsupial

Jolly Super

Jolly Superlative

Jolly Super Too

Super Cooper

Super Jilly

Super Men and Super Women

The Common Years