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) was sent to France again for the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat over 1600 metres at Chantilly Racecourse on 4 July and started at 5/1. Lope de Vega started favourite, while the other six runners included Siyouni, Xtension and Hearts of Fire (Gran Criterium). After racing in third place behind the pacemaker Altair Star and Lope de Vega Dick Turpin took the lead 400 metres from the finish and accelerated away from the field to win "easily" by four lengths. Richard Hughes commented "You get some horses like that which never get to win one and finish second all the