George Fordham
who had anything but a graceful seat upon a horse, and was a man of little education and general knowledge, but whose appreciation of the delicacies of his profession was simply phenomenal. It may be doubted whether any one who ever lived understood horses and the art of race riding more thoroughly. The value of a jockey's services, it may be incidentally remarked, has vastly increased of late years. It is not long since for the first call on his services Fordham received £100 a year. In contrast, again, to Fordham was his friend, Tom Cannon, who to the other requisites of perfect jockeyship added extraordinary grace. For George Fordham, Cannon had the warmest admiration, declaring that all he knew he learnt from his colleague-an expression, however, which may be taken as not a little exaggerated, for he continually profited by his own experiences and singularly astute observation. Tom Cannon's hands on a two-year-old will long be famous in the history of horsemanship. He was usually the personification of gentleness on a horse, and declared that he would as soon hit a child as an anxious young two-year-old that was doing its best; and in this respect, it may be remarked, George Fordham entirely agreed with him. There can be no doubt that Tom Cannon often got more out of a horse by his persuasive methods than any other jockey could have done by the administration of punishment. At the same time, if he had to use his whip, he could do so most effectually; but as a general rule one or two cuts in the last three or four strides was the most he did towards what is called a punishing finish," and when he did hit a horse, moreover, he always hit him at the right moment, not in the middle of his " [RACING S. stride, when the stroke would make him "curl up" and shorten, but as he was about to make it; for such minutia, which scarcely anyone notices, are part of the perfect horseman's equipment. Cannon, so admirable a rider himself, was also the cause of good riding in others. His pupils included his son Mornington and John Watts.
Loates, W. F. Robinson, and Kempton Cannon were likewise his apprentices, and did the fullest justice to their master. Mr. Arthur Coventry, the present starter, in his time unrivalled as a gentleman rider, was another pupil of the famous jockey. Watts' style was closely modelled on that of his teacher, as, indeed, was that of Mornington Cannon. Both father and son were much given to waiting, a practice which some critics considered that Mornington Cannon carried to excess. Both riders, however, when they just lost races sometimes expressed the conviction that if they had only dared to wait for two or three strides longer they would have won; and it is by no means certain in this matter that lookers-on see most of the game, or at any rate are best able to estimate the situation.
It is quite certain that the most usual fault in young riders is the reverse of this, a disposition to begin to finish too soon: they are in too great a hurry to get home, and there can be no doubt that many races have been won by these waiting tactics. It is absolutely certain that Enthusiast ought not to have beaten Donovan in the Two Thousand Guineas of 1889; but Donovan, and Pioneer, who was esteemed his most dangerous rival, spun themselves out before the post was reached. As Tom Cannon said, in accounting for his most unexpected victory, they had two or three little races to themselves a long way from the judge's box, and when they came near it I thought I would join in." Few persons who saw the race for the Leger of 1894 will doubt that Mornington Cannon only won on Throstle because he waited well behind. or American In the season of 1897, an jockey named Tod Sloan came to England and won a good proportion of races by tactics of a diametrically opposite sort. His method was to jump off and come through," as the phrase runs. He was a sound judge of pace, and so avoided the common fault when races are thus ridden of keeping nothing in hand for the final struggle. The fact is that both plans are good on occasions, but the circumstances of nearly every race differ according to the pace, the distance, and the capacity and disposition of various horses. RACING] Sloan's success led to an influx of American jockeys, and at the beginning of the century they were so numerous that they threatened to dispossess the native riders. For one reason or other, however, they almost entirely disappeared, for in course of time only Maher, who speedily came to occupy a prominent position, and J. H. Martin, less conspicuous, remained.
The visitors had, however, effected an astonishing revolution. They entirely altered the jockey's seat which had always been in and with less exertion. In 1906 an Australian trainer named Wootton came to England, bringing his son Frank, a lad just entering his teens, who was something in the nature of an infant prodigy. He rode with extraordinary success, which, when long continued, implies extraordinary skill, and, child as he was, he would almost certainly have headed the list of winning jockeys in 1908 but that he suffered a month's suspension for foul riding. made up for lost time by heading the list, He MAL HARPER 0000000 THE PARADE FOR THE DERBY vogue; though it is strange that Fordham had instinctively adopted the habit of sitting very far forward on his horse, if not to the extent practised by the Transatlantic horsemen. Opposed as it was to all idea of grace, and containing the weak point that a rider so near to the animal's neck could have less control over him than if sitting back in the saddle, the new style of seat became well-nigh universal. It is the rule in France as here. The idea of invariably 66 coming through" with a horse, which was supposed to be a fundamental principle of American riding, soon, however, to a great extent fell into disuse. Maher frequently waited, as English jockeys had been accustomed to do, the truth being that different horses and different conditions require different treatment. But with the forward seat horses appear to go faster though without quite so good an average as Maher obtained, in 1909 and 1910.
A few lines must be added about amateurs. At rare times an enthusiast is granted leave from the Stewards of the Jockey Club to ride on equal terms with professional jockeys, but the number of these gentlemen is necessarily limited, because the man who seeks the permission must be what he represents himself to be, and not a jockey in disguise; there are few gentlemen whose weight enables them to ride on the flat; and, unless the amateur has shown that he is really an expert, the Stewards would refuse his request, for the reason that he would be likely to hamper and interfere in a dangerous way with the other riders. The late Mr. George Baird, who ran horses in the name of "Abington" and won the Derby and Oaks with Merry Hampton and Busybody, was one of *the few amateurs who have ridden much of late years; and, in spite of wasting and severe privation, he could only take part in welter races. By constant practice he acquired considerable skill, and at the last held his own with fair success against professional opponents of the second class. Since his time, Mr. George Thursby, halfbrother of Sir John Thursby, Bart., has been chiefly conspicuous.
TWO-YEAR-OLD RACES. - It must be assumed that, by a happy combination of gentleness and firmness, by good hands, a strong seat in the saddle, and a temper most under control when most severely tried, the yearling has been backed, after the preliminary processes of bitting, saddling, and lunging; that he has been accustomed to daily exercise with his companions, led by a placid old horse; and that after being "jumped off" he has shown the possession of such speed as suggests that he is worth training. The Ist of January comes and he is a two-year-old with a prospect of running possibly in less than three months. In some instances a two-year-old has been entered for races before he was born, as, for example, in the Buckenham Stakes at the Newmarket First October Meeting, for which subscribers name three mares and send the produce of one to the post. In various other races the animals are entered as foals, and in others again at different periods of their yearling existence.
It will readily be understood why entries close so long before the time set for the race. If owners could wait till their young horses gave some actual proof of capacity the number of subscribers to many stakes would be small. A foal or a yearling, well bred, good looking, and with no apparent defects, may, however, turn out well, and so the owner nominates his colt or filly and takes his chance, the conditions of races very often enabling him to strike it out on payment of a minor forfeit should it entirely disappoint expectations. Much misapplied criticism is directed by ill-informed persons to what they regard as the forcing of the immature animal. The truth is that there are some two-year-olds, usually small and well developed, who if they did not win races early in the season would never win at all. Owners and trainers take stock of their youngsters and enter them accordingly.
Examination of the volumes of Races to Come will show that some horses are entered for stakes run early in the season, their names being rarely or never found in races 4 to 66 a [RACING that take place later in the year; for other animals no engagements are made till the summer, and they are nominated frequently for events in the autumn. It will be understood why this is so owners and trainers judge when their representatives are likely come to hand." There are those, again, who give promise of early maturity and have something about them which forbids their owners to despair of subsequent development. It is an extremely rare thing to find horse entered for, say, the Brocklesby Stakes, run towards the end of March, and the Middle Park Plate, run in the middle of October, though at the same time Donovan in 1888 actually won both.
As a general rule, however, when October comes, the winner of the Brocklesby is very lightly esteemed, and the chances are that before June the winner of the Middle Park has not been seen on a racecourse. winner of the Brocklesby "may be anything," as the phrase goes. The Bard won in 1885 and held his own next year, running a good second to Ormonde for the Derby; in four years out of six The Bard would doubtless easily have won the great race.
Other winners have soon sunk to "plating."
But The Bard and Donovan were notable exceptions to the average run of Brocklesby winners.
The It is seldom that two-year-olds destined to attain to the front rank are out before, at any rate, the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom.
The Woodcote was originated in 1807, and, with the exception of the July Stakes at Newmarket, first run in 1786, is about the oldest two-year-old contest now surviving.
Derby winners have won the Woodcote- Cremorne (1871), Ladas (1893), Rock Sand (1902), and Cicero (1904); but in the ordinary course of events it is not till Ascot, a fortnight after the Derby, that one sees the two-year-olds on which the fame of the English racehorse is to depend. The New Stakes at Ascot dates from 1843; the list of winners is a brilliant one, and now come names that are to be met with again in the Middle Park Plate, the most important stake for horses in their first season. Of late (since 1890) the Coventry Stakes has been added to the Ascot programme, and this is of equal interest with the older race; indeed, it is in one respect superior, for in the Coventry all competitors meet at even weights (except as regards the usual 3-lb. allowance for fillies), and in the New Stakes there are penalties and allowances.
Kermesse, Melton, Friar's Balsam, Donovan, Isinglass, Flying Fox, Bayardo, Rock Sand, St. Amant, Cicero, and Lemberg won both the New Stakes and Middle RACING] Park Plate; Ladas won the latter after carrying off the Coventry.
At Ascot one begins (often, however, arriving at most incorrect conclusions) to speculate upon how the two-yearolds of the season should be rated, and it is probable that further light will be thrown upon the question by the July Stakes at the Newmarket First July Meeting and the Chesterfield (1834) at the Second July. Here, too, Middle Park winners and Dewhurst winners (the Dewhurst ranking only second to the Middle Park) are found, as they are in the Richmond and Prince of Wales's Stakes at