Francis rode more than 350 winners, and was champion jockey before injury forced him to take up the pen. He started writing for a national newspaper as a racing correspondent and then produced more than 40 novels, many of them international bestsellers.

Racing pundits said Francis would be remembered for riding the Queen Mother´s horse Devon Loch in 1956 when close to winning Britain´s most prestigious race, the Grand National, it inexplicably belly-flopped.

Francis was described as a gentleman and the kind of man "everybody in racing liked".

Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, a keen horseracing fan, was among the most avid readers of his novels, always receiving the first edition.

Francis, the son of a stable manager and born in Wales, left school at the age of 15. He served with the Royal Air Force during World War Two as a pilot.

He was one of Britain´s most successful postwar national hunt jockeys, although he never won the Grand National.

His career was brought to an end in 1957 when he retired after a serious fall.

His award-winning books, packed with mystery and intrigue, with the racing world invariably used as a background, included "Dead Cert", "In the Frame" and "To the Hilt".