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FRED ARCHERS WONDERFUL RECORD If tho irue test of merit lie success then there never was a jockey like Fred Archer For a short period during the heydsw of his fame he won one race for each one he lost and from the beginning of his racing career 1S70 until 18SG the year of his death he was first past the post in 27JG out of UK 8081 races in which he rode says Pearsons Weekly WeeklyHe He won the Epsom Derby five times tho Oaks four times the St Leper six times and tho Two Thou ¬ sand Guineas live times Between the year 1870 when he won his first City and Suburban and his first Ascot Gold Cup on Thunder till 1SSO when he won his fifth Derby on Ormonde he bad a large and everincreasing train of followers who hacked him iu practically every race irrespective of Ills mounts It was Archer up and never mind the geejce And in a sense their blind faith in him was justi ¬ fied for what Archer did not know about horses was hardly worth knowing knowingPretty Pretty nearly born in a Stable ho was the son of William Archer a celebrated crosscountry rider he was brought into constant contact with thorough ¬ breds almost as soon as he could toddle and when barely twelve years old he ride his first race in public steering Athol Daisy to victory in the Nur ¬ sery Handicap at Chesterfield This was on Sep ¬ tember 28 1870 when he was serving his time as an apprentice in the racing stable of the wellknown trainer Matt Dawson Next day ho won another race on the same filly fillyAfter After that however came a succession of losses fourteen in all and this run of ill luck continued over the next season when out of thirtysix races he rode in he only succeeded in winning three But all the while he was gaining valuable experience and what was far more important he was also gaining confidence By tho time he was seventeen ho had established his reputation as a fearless rider riderIlls Ills nerves of steel his miisclbs of whipcord never for an instant failed him On the Derby coingo at Tattenham Corner where even the most experienced jockeys invariably lost a length or two by swerving outward Archer never hesitated to gal ¬ lop at top speed down the bend of the hill often shaving the railings so closely as to cause the near ¬ est spectators to shrink back in affright affrightHis His rivals said that this sort of tiling could novel last that he was bound sooner or later to break his neck or at least cripple himself for life Hut he never did Indeed his accidents due to his riding were few and trivial
