Dick Turpin Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher early in his life but, by the early 1730s, he had joined a gang of deer thieves and, later, became a poacher, burglar, horse thief and killer. He is also known for a fictional overnight ride from London to York on his horse Black Bess, a story that was made famous by the Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth almost 100 years after
Dick Turpin (horse) he travels so well and has got a good racing brain". The colt was back in France in August for the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville Racecourse and ran seventh behind Immortal Verse. On 24 September Dick Turpin was sent to Italy for the Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua over 1600 metres at San Siro Racecourse in Milan in which he was ridden by Christophe Soumillon. He started odds-on favourite against six opponents including Cityscape, Fanunalter and the German mare Vanjura. After racing in fifth place he produced a strong run on the outside in the straight, caught