view raw text
JOHN PORTERS OPINION OF JOCKEYS. John Porter, the famous ex-Kingsclere trainer, haa forwarded to the Press Association the follow iug Important communication on the subject of the present-day Jockeys: •"In my book. •Kingsclere. published in 1808, the following passage appeal-- on the aahjrrt of the jockey: I contend that he is the emliodiiueni of • tie of the most hapsrtaat prohtema that demand solution in connection with the national sport. Where are the Jockeys! Where will they be in the course of a few years.- They appear to he diminishing annually. Where are they now.- They have disappeared almost to a vanishing [mint. It is de plorable to think that for our leading Jockey* we have to go to America and Australia. Fngland used to be the nursery from which all nations looked lor their supply. Are we becoming a degenerate race • Or is it the system that is at fault. I can remember Hie time if I had a horse goixl enough to run for the Derby I could tind twenty jockeys good enough to ride him. But then they had years of experience before they arrived at the weight we now -tart at. "I would, therefore, venture to suggest as same remedy for the evils from which We are suffering thai owners should back up the trainers by putting up the boys the trainers have taken the I rouble to teach. Plenty of boys can ride: it is the opportunity thai is wauled. We are fiddling loo much on two or three strings. The great advantage in putting up a boy connected with the stable is this: He is on the spot under the pevsoaal saptnision of the trainer; he is riding the horses daily, thus gaining a knowledge of their different peculiarities. Horses are like human beings, different in temperament and disposition. It i- a great advantage to gain a knowledge of this. 1 woald also lower the standard of weight to Set. There has been a tendency of late to raise the weight-, from I he idea that little boys are deficient in strength to manage horses. Why. almost all the good jockeys I have ever known commenced to ride races when liny weighed but little over 4st. To say thai they cannot ride is sheer naasease. Wealh erbys teems with abundant evidence to the contrary Three-year-olds seldom win a handicap now before the middle of the racing season. The margin between the top and lower weights is not sufficient to give them a fair chance. By lowering the weights apprentices would get more riding, and be better qualified to compete on equal terms with other Jockeys ••! longer experience. ■■Since I commenced racing some sixty years ago. I have seen three geniuses representing three different styles of riding: l-ordhani. with his medinm--hori stirrup, Jest short enough to clear the pommel of the -addle with a little to -pare, taking tight hold of hi- hoi-e- head, leaning -lightly forward. with hi- hands re-ting on the hones withers, thus throwing the weight on the horses shoulders, but -till in a position to glee him power to drop into the -addle and control a home when in difficulties. .in.l drive him straight home at the finish of a race. •Then came Archer wilh his long legs and short body, riding with a long stirrup and a long rein. He had many Imitators, but they were not made that way. Ar.-her was not a finished horseman like Tom Cannon and Others that I could name. It was his indomitable energy, his wonderful nerve, hla power of embracing opportunities during a race, that made him so superior lo others. He was always t. aiiv lo ride your rial-, lie wa- generally the lirsi 1. 1 weigh out for a race, the tir-t at the post. and. in fact, his whole -.ml was in the basiaeSS. "■The next to appeal, and to set a very different style, was Sloan. From the long stirrup and long rein, he passed to the other extreme the shot I stn tup and short rein. Here, again, we found a genius, who not onlv net a new faafcsoa in riding races, but a new wa Of running them. Instead of the slow. muddling way of waltin* on each other, we had race- run through as they should be. In t liis he showed his superiority to others, by his knowledge of pace. In- did not ride from pillar to post a-Otbers are apt to do. but at a twice that would give hi- horse a ckaace to ,arry him to the end of a race "Between Archer and Sloan. I think Fordham showed the happy medians, and his is the style of i nihil; that should be taught and encouraged. I do not think either the extremes of Archer or Sloan can give the power and control over a bene ihat ale -o needful."- lamdon Sporting Life.
