AN odds on favourite for racing buffs this Christmas is a “unique” book, launched this week, from one of Herefordshire’s most enduring and famous horsey families.

In ‘Three of a Kind’, published by the Racing Post, the blinkers are off for a gutsy gallop through three generations of one extraordinary racing dynasty. A constant presence in jump racing for more than 70 years, the Scudamore family is one of the longest serving in this sport of kings. Even TV commentator Brough Scott admits there can never be another book quite like this one.

As he points out: “… no clan has ever, or will ever, match the Grand National role of the Scudamores.” Not only does it chart the thrills and spills of racing from the Second World War generation up to the present day, it also shines a light on a way of life in Herefordshire as it once was.

Written with award-winning racing journalist Chris Cook – son of the late Labour politician Robin Cook – recollected memories of the late Michael Scudamore, together with the full and frank discussions between his son, Peter and grandson, Tom, the book goes right to the very heart of National Hunt racing.

From Michael’s war generation, who never complained and rarely wore a helmet, to Peter, champion jockey eight times and riding at an evolutionary time for jockeys, and Tom, a 21st century jockey riding in a world where jockeys dash by helicopter between race meetings, receive the ministrations of psychologists and nutritionists, and even get breathalysed at the races.

Champion jockey no less than eight times, Peter Scudamore, busy these days training 70 horses in Scotland, admits that home will always be the county of his birth.

“Once you’ve been a jockey, you can never really not be one,” he explains. “So, the writing of this has been a kind of therapy for me, not only on a personal level but helping me understand how fortunate my family has been.”

He continues: “I wanted to put the Herefordshire angle, the bits about my grandfather, Geoffrey who left the farm to fight in the war, and the character of the county at that time.”

He continues: “My grandfather was shot down in a plane close to the German border, and everyone thought he was dead.” Six weeks later, a crackly message came through on the radio that he and his comrades were alive and in a prisoner of war camp.

After liberation by the Soviet army, American and British prisoners were not released for another month. During this time, they were allowed to forage for food in the area one day a week. Geoffrey discovered a new racing saddle at an abandoned farm, and when he returned home to Llangarron, his prize was under his arm.

Chairman of Ross Harriers, and a well-known point-to-point rider in Herefordshire before the war, he was later to establish the racecourse at Hereford. “I don’t know where he got his love of racing from,” says Peter. Back in those days, horse and jockey travelled by train to race meetings. “They never went home!” he explains. “Nowadays every horse has a smart lorry.”

Peter’s father, Michael went on to win the Grand National in 1959, and it was his gift for telling stories that largely inspired the book. Following his death from cancer in 2014, and the passing of his wife, Mary just three days later, it took a period of healing before his son and grandson could pick up the threads of the family story.

“I felt very raw,” says Peter.

Eventually, the time seemed right to compile a record of the family’s achievements.

“Dad was a great one for telling stories, even if he kept repeating them and I have inherited that! But the basis of the book was there.”

Three of a Kind harks back to times when Herefordshire was “very much” an agricultural community, when a good day at the races ended with celebrations at the old Farmers Club. “It’s becoming more urbanised now,” he feels.

Michael’s career as a jockey came to an end in 1966 when he rode Snakestone in a handicap hurdle at Wolverhampton. The horse fell and brought down three others, and Michael suffered appalling injuries: broken ribs, a collapsed lung, seven jaw fractures, two cracked cheekbones, a broken nose, a split palate and worst of all, he lost 90 per cent of the sight in his left eye.

In later years, he said: “I think I was a bit lucky: I got into very good hands. They patched me up.”

Not surprisingly, his wife was not keen on the idea of raising more jockeys. “She never wanted me to ride,” says Peter. However, from riding a pony – even a donkey – as soon as he could walk, the dice was already cast. Says Tom: “Granny used to really struggle watching me ride.” He adds: “When we’d go and stay with her she’d feed us up – I’m sure a lot of that was to stop Michael and me from being jockeys!”

There’s a fair chance that ‘Three of a Kind’ could be first past the post in Herefordshire’s festive gift stakes this Christmas.

*Three of a Kind: The Scudamores is available at £25 www.racingpost.com/shop