Man invents robot horse to win Grand National, grandchildren "pilot" it.

[Troo]

Please, please help! I read this one wayyyyyy back in the mists of time. It's a children's book, and while I read it in the late seventies / early eighties, there's no guarantee that it's not older.

A boy and a girl visit their mad inventor granddad to find that he's made a super-realistic robotic horse. His lifelong dream is to win the Grand National, and this is how he's going to do it, but the horse needs "piloting" from the inside - a flap in the stomach allows small children to climb inside and do just that.

I believe the horse itself is an AI, as I remember being concerned for its safety.

Anyway, once the horse finally gets entered into the race, the children uncover a plot to nobble the horses (including their own) so that the horse backed by the Bad Guy will win.

Naturally the children overthrow the plot and defeat the Bad Guy. The robot horse wins the Grand National, but is disqualified for losing its jockey somewhere around the track. Inventor is nonetheless happy, as it's a win as far as he's concerned.

 

[Dave]

I've no idea really, but can I hazard a guess at Intergalactic Velvet

 

[Troo]

No, you can't

 

[jackokent]

Hi Troo

It's called "Mylor the most powerful horse in the world" by Michael Maguire.

I loved this book as a child.

 

[Troo]

You are my hero! Thank you thank you thank you!

This one's been driving me nuts for years!

 

[Dougie]

This was the first novel I ever read and I read it in a day! I loved it, it was so engrossing!

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Oddly, camel racing really uses remote controlled "jockeys" now (not real robots as they are not autonomous). They used to have child jockeys, but that was stopped on grounds of cruelty (unusually for Gulf).