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FRANK WOOTTONS REMARKABLE CAREER. Frank Wootton was lmrn in Australia on December 14, lsii::. but never rode there, his debut in the saddle taking place in South Africa, where he had some twelve winning mounts. It was. however, in Kuglaiid that he made his mark, and having begun well by winning on his first mount his career was little short of phenomenal. Retrieve it was Hint earned him his lirst brackets at Folkstone in his fathers colors. At that time young Frank had not completed his thirteenth year and. a stranger in a strange land, passed almost unnoticed except for the reason that he was a tiny little chap with an abnormally large and intelligent-looking head, which we have since learned by experience was well stocked with brains. At the same meeting Aurina won the Kent Handicap for "Mr. Jersey." an assumed name which shaded without hiding the identity of Lady de P.athe. and. quick to recognize the abiity and skill of the midget, that enthusiastic lady gave him the mount on her mare almut a month later in the Prince Edward Handicap at Manchester, which she won after a good race by half a length from Polymclus. Meanwhile, the baby jockey had won for Mr. L. Neumann the Portland Plate at Doncaster on Xero. beating Maher 011 Melayr by a similar margin, and in much the same way lie served the American again when he won the Visitors Handicap at the Newmarket First October Meeting on Nydian for Mr. O. Smith. Thus early, therefore, it had been made plain that the boy carried an old head on young shoulders, was as cool as a cucumber, was possessed of good hands and seat and. furthermore, strength apparently out of all proportion to his diminutive size. All these admirable qualities had been developed under the immediate tuition and supervision of his father himself, a practical horseman In his day, and incidentally a very successful schoolmaster, for during the seven years he lias exploited this country, lie has turned out such apprentices as Stanley Wootton. W. Iluxlev. 10. Huxley. Smyth. McKcnna and linallv Dick. Frank Wootton s figures arc so remarkable that I append them as under: r Year Mts. 1st. 2d. 3d. Clip. W.O. 1inc 07 10 u ; :u o 100T ..282 ".! ."7 "7 10! 0 1SKIS ".. 002 129 102 !1 2S0 4 1!0!1 v.777 105 145 89 .!7S 2 1910 0.10 i:S7 121 92 2S0 2 Hill 747 1S7 14.-. 121 2!4 11I12 4:ts ns so r4 iso 1 in:; :;2:: i 00 r.2 120 2 Thus, during the eight years that he has ridden In England, he has had .1.S00 mounts, has won S10 races, an average of over 100 winners per annum, and lias "walked over" on fourteen occasions, and all before he had attained the age of twenty years, a splendid record indeed, and I doubt if any jockey of this or anv other time can boast of having " amassed before reaching mans estate such a fortune as that with which he is credited. The drop from 747 mounts in 1911 to 4I1S in the following vear is startling, but easily accounted for by increased weight, and it was only by the most strenuous wasting that he was last season able to keep within race riding limit. Nature, however, will not lie denied, and had he continued to waste it could only have been at the risk of injury to his constitution, hence there was no alternative hut to retire from the iirofession as one of the finest jockeys ever seen, though still in his teens. "Vigilant," in London Sportsman.
