A. J. Joyner and His Achievements, Daily Racing Form, 1914-02-09

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A. J. J0YNER AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS. . i leaii race courses lost their best "rooter" v. ic n Andrew Jackson Joyner moved over to Kallaton I.Miige. Xewmarket. to train the English string that l.ii -a rs the colors of Harry Payne Whitney. Never was there- such a rooter as this same "Jack" Joy-in r a few seasons back. A quiet, unassuming man in the paddock, he was wont to stroll out to the iiitKhl when he sent one to the post. lie would never take his eyes from his horse until the post vas reached, and no jockey worked harder to bring him home a winner than did his big trainer u the infield. As the field swept through the stretch Jiyner would run to the rail and if his horse was in s oiitcnding position he would shout encouragement, is only he could shout, and frequently he has raced along "for the last sixteenth with the horses, all fie time giving voice to rebel yells that fairly made the welkin ring. Ten minutes after the race he .vi aid be the same quiet Joync-r but never was there a -iian who had such a real lusty joy in victory. It mattered not whether he was lending his moral "tpport to Hamburg lielle when that queenly filly on the Futurity, or urging on that old rogue, Ormondes Bight, in a much less fashionable race. I was the joy of winning that spurred him. The that, only a big, red-blooded sportsman can feel. 1 1 meant more than the purse to Joyner. It was a shout of encouragement to a good horse and there s a battle ring In the call. in staid old England Joyner has learned to curb iis rooting a bit. but it has been said of him that onee in a" while he forgets that he is wearing rid-!ng breeches and the English atmosphere of calm ti.at goes with them. When he does, bis hat goes i igh in the air and out comes a shout that is so w 11 remembered about the Xew York courses, wl en he was sending winner after winner to the post for Sydney Paget. Racing can never grow old for Joyner. He will iiways have that same enthusiasm and be experiences the same fierce joy in the battle now that he did away back in his boyhood, when he was an apprentice under William Wyche, who in his day v as one of the old timers of importance. Joyner let rued in a good school and his has been a life-t lime of rare usefulness in his chosen field. Ueforc "ir had reached manhood he was a practical horse-iiM. but he always had those inborn characters! ics that can never be acquirwl an inherent love f"r the thoroughbred and that Indefinable bond of i ilowsliip with the dumb beast that made Ihem ith understand one another. After sirring a long apprenticeship with William Wvc-lie the young southerner, in 1S7S, branched i at for himself with the mare Annie G. She was n Mirc.-year-old in 1S7S and that was the year that loyner did the bushes of both Carolluas with her. He had one year of this and Annie O.. under his iM.illiiiir, became one of the most famous of the I .irse.s that raced at country fairs then attracting a much better class of horsws for the reason that lucre were fewer big track opportunities. For four years, beginning in 1S70, Joyner was associated with that veteran of the turf. W. P. Kurch, who is now one of the stewards of the present race meeting of the Charleston Fair and Racing Association. He was foreman in the stable and not a little of its success was due to his skill in the fitting of the horses. It was after leaving trainer Kurch that Joyner accepted his first engagement as a trainer on his own hook. In 1SS3 he signed a contract with Davis and Hull and he remained with that notable racing firm until it was finally dissolved in 1S90, when he again branched out for himself. This venture was much more pretentious than his "bushwhacking" with Annie G. There were more tracks of importance and he had a string that would take odds of none of them. One of his liest horses at that time was Chesepeake, with whom he was winner of many a good race. His skill with his own horses resulted in several owners of importance inducing him lo open a public training stable, and among others that he had in his charge were the horses of August Belmont and J. E". McDonald. Finally the demands of Mr. Kelmont on his services were so insistent that he was engaged to train the Kelmont horses alone. This engagement was not terminated until 1S95. and during its life It was particularly successful, the Kelmont silks being first in forty races for the lsst year of the contract, a wonderfully good record for those dars of racing. One of the marked successes that attended Joyner in Ids early years on the turf came with Ids handling of Oriilamme. James Rowe, considering that the horse had broken down so badly that to train him would lie useless, presented him to T. B. Davis for stud purposes. Joyner was to take the horse to the Davis stud, but when he reached Washington, D. C. with his charge, he found that he had about recovered from his lameness. Ho induced Mr. Davis to permit him to train him for another season and in seventeen starts this Continued on second page. A. J. JOYNER AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS. Continued from first page. good horse was only unplaced on one occasion. Joy-ner did not pick spots for his cripple. He sent him after the best of them and took them into camp. Later Joyner is found training the strings of thoroughbreds that were raced by David Gideon, W. A. Chanler and II. P. Belmont, and it was while in th. employ of II. P. Belmont that he developed Ethelbert into one of the greatest horses of his day. This same Ethelbert later achieved high lienors as a stock horse when he sent such a good one to the races as Fitz Herbert, which, by the way. began his racing career under the racing silks of Mr. Joyner. Ethelbert came in a good year, for the peerless Imp was racing in 1900 and Jack Point and Kin-ley Mack were also of the same time. As a four-year-old Ethelbert was at the top of his form and his wonderful performances over a distance of ground made brilliant turf history. Shortly after this came Joyners engagement with Sydney Paget and with James B. llaggin, at that time the most extensive breeder of thoroughbreds in the world. For many seasons Joyner had the biggest string of horses that were handled by any one trainer. The lad who had gone "bush-whacking" with Annie G. had grown marvelously in importance. He was the most sought after conditioner of horses in the country and the same measure of success perched on his banner as when with bis one mare he was taking down purses in the Carolinas about the country fairs. He still raced horses of his own. so tliat the Joyner establishment was of gigantic proportions. It was in those years that he saddled AVaterboy iu all of his great races. It was be who sent Hamburg Belle to the post for her memorable Futurity of BKi::. lie developed Charles Edward, one of the fastest horses of his day, and Charles El-wood, another of the llaggin breed, was a notable winner. It was in 1905 that I lie Paget string had grown to such proportions that the llaggin horses were turned over to Charles Littlelield. and Joyner still had thirty-eight that he fitted for the races. Then in 1900, August Belmont supplanted John J. Hyland with Joyner as his trainer. His stable was a big one and some of tlieni went to John Whalen, but Joyner was given the pick of the string. That year he hud fourteen for Belmont and a like number for Paget, while lie still had a small string of his own. During tiiis service lie had Fair Play and Pris-eilliitn in his care. Had it not been that Fair Play came the same year as that unbeaten champion Colin he would have been one of the greatest of American horses. His was a tough row to hoe. but he came through his two and three-year-old seasons second only to the Keene champion. Joyner left the American turf with Hying colors in 190S when he sent seventy-one winners to the lst. At that time lie was handling the horses of Harry Payne Whitney, his present employer, August Belmont and some that bore his own silks, liis most notable winners being Hessian and Fit. Herbert, which as a matter of fact was sold by him early in his two-year-old lorni. It was in 1009 that Mr. Whitney entered upon his invasion of the English courses and Joyner was put in charge. He made it a purely American stable and when he moved his household goods to Ballaton Lodge. Newmarket. lie took his full force with him. including a Chinese cook. There lie fairly took the Englishmen off their feet with his elaltorate establishment. But he was the same Joyner who many years in-fore had raced Annie G. His success had tome from Ids natural ability and his hard work and even though he took with him a large retinue lie at no time dodged his own labors. The Whitney stalde abroad has always been a log one, mid he also handled tin; good lill.v Mediant for Herman B. Duryea. This is the lill.v that was winner of the Stewards Cup and other ood races in 1909. He developed Whisk Broom II., which came back to this couutry to win the Metropolitan. Brooklyn and Suburban Handicaps last year, and though his season just closed was not. as successful as some of the others, the Whitney silks earned almost 0.nm during the racing year. Joyner is back in New York for a holiday. He is the same hearty, wholesome old Mack" that he always has been", even though he lias Ixien engaged to take over some thoroughbreds for the Karl of Lonsdale, in addition to the big AVhitney string lie has in his care. Turf.


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