Dick Francis is probably best remembered as the author of 39 bestselling crime novels centered around the world of British horse racing. However, prior to taking up his pen, Dick was a wartime RAF pilot of Spitfires, Wellingtons and Lancasters before then becoming one of the most successful jump jockeys of his generation. He was champion jockey in 1954 but his riding career was defined by his riding of the Queen Mother's Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National when the horse inexplicably collapsed just forty yards from certain victory. After that, the name of Dick Francis became synonymous with Aintree racecourse and the Grand National. In 1982 he was one of a few people who worked tirelessly to save the race from the threat of residential redevelopment and Dick remained a trustee of the racecourse until his retirement from the board in 2003. In honour of this, and of his long association with the Grand National, Aintree have decided to provide a site for a life-size bronze statue of Dick Francis to be erected at the racecourse. This will also mark the centenary of Dick's birth in October 1920. The funds for the sculpting and casting of the statue are to be raised by public subscription through this site. If more than the required amount is raised for the statue, the balance will be donated to the Injured Jockeys Fund, a charity that was very close to Dick Francis’s heart. And, in the event that insufficient funds are obtained, and hence the statue is not commissioned, all contributions shall be automatically refunded to the contributor.