Claude Duval legend, including claims of alchemy, gambling, and much womanising. He is reported to haunt the Holt Hotel along the A4260 (Oxford Road) in Oxfordshire, a hotel where he spent many nights when it was a small coaching inn. Recent historians have reappraised the legacy of Duval. James Sharpe in "Dick Turpin" regarded Duval as the most significant figure in the shaping of the highwayman myth. John and Philip Sugden's "The Thief of Hearts" reconstructs what is known of the historical Duval, using much fresh evidence, and shows that the traditions about the Frenchman were used by such literary luminaries as
Dick Turpin (horse) Guineas horse next year". On 4 October Dick Turpin was sent to France and moved up to Group 1 class for the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere over 1400 metres at Longchamp Racecourse. He started the second choice in the betting in a seven-runner field but after racing towards the rear he was unable to catch the leaders and came home fifth behind Siyouni, Pounced, Buzzword and Lope de Vega. Thirteen days later the colt contested the Dewhurst Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse and finished sixth of the fifteen runners behind Beethoven. On 17 April Dick Turpin made his three-year-old