Dick Francis, the jockey and author, died...

...on Sunday at the age of 89.

Dick Francis, whose notable but blighted career as a champion steeplechase jockey for the British royal family was eclipsed by a second, more brilliant career as a popular thriller writer, died on Sunday in the Cayman Islands, where he had a home. He was 89.

The author of more than 40 novels, most of them set in the world of thoroughbred horse racing, Mr. Francis made it a point of honor to satisfy fans with one book a year for most of his career.

One book a year for 40 years!

A year later, Mr. Francis teamed up with his son, Felix Francis, to write “Dead Heat.”

Felix Francis? Whose idea was that name?

His collarbone was broken 12 times, his nose five times, his skull once, his wrist once, and his ribs too many times to notice. He rode 12 races (winning two) with a broken arm.

Yet, in looking back at the decade that he rode horses for a living, he would call those years “the special ones. The first growth; the true vintage. The best years of my life.”