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) Poulains), Shafaraz (Prix du Cadran), Ashkalani (Poule d'Essai des Poulains, Prix du Moulin) and Zalaiyka (Poule d'Essai des Pouliches). Dick Turpin was ridden in five of his six races in 2009 by Richard Hughes. He made his racecourse debut in a maiden race over six furlongs at Windsor Racecourse on 8 June in which he started at odds of 3/1 and won "unchallenged" by four and a half lengths from fourteen opponents. On 11 July he was ridden by Pat Dobbs when he followed up in a minor event at Salisbury Racecourse, winning "readily" by six lengths at odds of