In Racing for Thirty-Five Years, Daily Racing Form, 1915-08-12

article


view raw text

■ , - I [ ■ _ , , . 1 . - J I - • - „ . , • - ■ ■ I IN RACING FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS. 1 be an rocemeni 1 1 « it "3 sung" l om ., 1 is about io retire from the business 0: training seta one thinking of old times, tor during his thirty live years of active service he ha- had a successful ami varied experience both at home and on the Continent, and. better still, has earned deservedly the higta reaped and implicit tnunaVarc of all the owners with whom he has been asso elated and of the public at large. He was more than usually advanced in years when he joined his father to graduate in the art of riding and train-ins:, but certainly could not bare entered a better school, for the "old governor" was facile princeps, and left a splendid record behind when be was ailed t,. the meat majority. All the "claesies" in England and Praam ar one time or another fell to bones trained by bim, amongst tbem the famous Gladiateur, which won the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, st. Leger, Grand Prfae of Paris, Ascot odd Cup and numerous other race-, and was. in fact. the beat horse be ever had in charge. Verneull was another celebrity as the only horse to win the Ascot Vase, the Can and Alexandra Plate in the same year, hut I have neither time nor space at lay disposal to ;■ throagh his numerous triumphs, and can only regret that he did not write his reminiscences, which would have been Intensely Interesting by reason of his exceptional experiences in France and Italy, where be had the honor of training for King Victor BmaaacL Young ToaVi experience as a Hat race Jockey mi uneventful; suffice it that he had his tirst mount in 1s7o. and four years biter becoming too heavy for the work tor awbile turned hi- attention to riding under N. II. Bales, his lirst appearance being at Tottenham. In liiis line h - was nc, re successful, and anion- Other races won the Grand Hurdle Bace at Auteuil on raids Cray, the Sandown Grand Prise Hurdle Handicap "ii Rifle, and other races ol Bote, if ol less importance, on Sheldrake, all [or his father. He also had a good timber-topper of bis own in Ducat, but be was trained by his friend. Joseph Cannon, and ridden by Mr. George Lamb ton whin be won the Sandown Grand Prise. As a trainer be started auspiciously in 1880, when he took exclusive charge of the late Mr. C. J. Le- fevies horses at Lowther House, on the site 1 which new stands the King Edward Memorial. In thai year we were Introduced to a remarkable horse in Tristan, not, as m,. t people imagine, of French breeding, but by Hermit oat of Thrift, and bred by the late Lord Boaslyn. He had already been to France, but not raced before he won as a two-year-. old four of the eight races in which he took part; and he w.i- second in three o: ti then. Next season, after being unplaced to Peregrine in the Two Thousand, and Iroquois in the Derby, he WOB the crand Prix de Deaurille, and Bve days utter came out agaia for the Grand Prix de Paris, ridden by Pred Archer, and was beaten a head by Geo - lordham on the American horse Poxhall. This form was continued st decisively before the end "f I he season. Later Tristan won the Horse Heath Stakes at Newmarket and Singleton Stakes at Goodwood, then found ishmaei and Camel lard too good for him in the licit Yorkshire Slakes, bat picked up lite winning thread again when he bowled over the odds laid 011 Exeter for the Queens Plate at Don-caster. At the same meeting lie met his master in Petroael for the Cup. and then Poxhall gave him iive pounds and a comfortable beating for the Select Stakes at Newmarket, while for the Challenge Stakes he 1 ■mild only get third to Nellie- and SCO- bell. Then came the Cambridg ■shire, for which, having so it was -aid been beaten in a trial bj Montrose, which belonged to Mr. IL S. Brans, an intimate friend of Mr. Lefevres, he started at the outside price of i;i; to 1. That was a remarkable race lor mere reasons than one. In the tics! place there was an exceptionally high-class Held, and in the second Foxhall, whose weight was raised 1,, 128 pounds lij a fourteen-pound penalty for winning tin- Ce-aiew iten did one of the finest handicap per- foiniancs ever seen, and in the third .loon Walls, who was then only a youngster, by a splendid dis play of horsemanship fairly established his claim to consideration a- cue of the most powerful and artistic Jockeys of that or any other lime. Lucj , Glitters, carrying 91 pounds, was second, beaten a head, and Tristan, ridden by 1 odham. and r, ei-Ing nineteen poaaida from the winner, was third. Such horses as Peter, Bend Or. lctroiiel. Ihilam- mon. Scobell, Prestonpans, Ponlet and Toiutmaster were unplaced. We saw 110 more of Tristan that season, but he was busy again as a foar-year-eid, when he win ten out of fourteen races, beginning with the Queens Plate ai Northampton and following with a , similar race at hosier, the Epsom Stakes and Gold cup at the same meeting. Next we Bad him at Ascot for the tirst time-, and right well did he . mark the occasion by winning the Gold Vase, the . New Biennial, and the Hardwicke stakes, preparatory ] to tlie .inly Cup at Newmarket, and then came a flaky defeat by Friday for Hi, Goodwood Cup. Next l.e choused the channel to win the Grand Prix : d,. Deaarttle under tlie crashing impost of 1 c. pound- a big performance— and after an apple .laid, rest h ■ came out to win the Champion Stakes at Newmarket from Thebais, Dates Ovea and ethers. The flying two year old. Energy, was a neck loo good for him in Hie Challenge Stakes, and he was nowhere f,,r the Cambridgeshire won bj Hackness. aft,r the ran- had been postponed !•■ Wednesday owing to the violence of the storm which nged on Tuesday. Carriages were blown over, Judges boxes wen- "careering" about the beatfa in runaway fashion and people found il almost impossible to keep their feet: in truth, a day that will never be lor- gotten by anyone who was present. Tristan was ■ ■at agaia at the Houghton meeting, and after 1 desperte flnisfa .bad heated with City Arab, a short head behind Chippendale, tor the Jockey club Cap, with orrie Hoy fourth a neck away. As the jack Cye concerned wore Osborne. Pordham, F. Archer ami Wood, the quality of the riding may be imagined. In contrast to the majority of Hermits set. Tristan must have been a bone of wonderful constitution, for. still as s. und as ever on bis puis and robust of health, he was early in evidence again the following year, and won eight out of twelve races, including another Grand Prix de DeauviUe. He had an easy task in the Queens Plate at Epsom, but was unexpectedly beaten for the Westminster Cup at Kempton by Barcaldine, ami had no difficulty in again winning tlie Epsom ib.hl Cup. He made abort work of Dutch Oven in the Ascot Cup. repeating the dose on the following dav. and ai the same lime he gave Iroquois a taste of his quality in the Hardwicke Stakes. A tier I wo failures lie was indulged in a walk over for Cue Singleton Stakes at Goodwood, and then deteaied two St. Leger winners in Ossian and Dutch Oven lor the Champion Stakes, and w I up the season unopposed for the Ail-Aged Stakes at Newmarket. In his flfth and last sea* it on the turf, he ran live times, and. baring been third t , St. iatie 1 fi r the odd Vase and second to st. Simon for the Cup at Ascot, he again warn the Hardwicke Stakes, the Deaurille Grand Prix by a short head from Fra Hi.ivolo. and finally for the third time in succession the Champion Stakes. In all he won twenty nine races, Includ ina the Hardwicke stakes, the Singleton Stakes at Goods I. the Champion Stakes at Newmarket. and the Deaurille Grand Prix three times each, in truth a remarkable record, while a striking feature in his career was his ability to win over all dis tames ti 1 si furlongs upwards. He would have run for the Bpsom Gold Cap iisMi. but by ar rangement he stood down in favor of st. Simon, as the result of an unusual trial with St. Simon, each to be assisted by a stable companion pacemaker and the winner to run. The gallop took place quite openly half an hour before racing commenced ,n one of the Newmarket Second Spring days and was witnessed by hundreds of people. who -aw the Duke of Cortlands wonder win easily. and with nothing else to oppose him walked over for the Cap. Tom Jennings lad many other good horses throagh his hand-, amongst other- that I can recall belli?: Wild Thyme, winner of the Woodcote Stakes, New Stake* al . ■ 1. and Champagne al Boncaster; Stockholm, Pride. Battergy, Baj Ronald winner ol 1 he cii and Suburban, and afterwards the sire ol Bavardo Kadig, Mamla, Montesuma, l.e Caisaier. Itoyul star. Catmint, Bueil, winner ot the Grand Prix de Paris, Goaverneur, Reverend, Limasol and Min ka, winners of the Oaks, and Bare Devil, which he sol. I t.» the bale Mr. C. Perkins to win two Cn, tor cup • in succession. Cnnnis-i, ue,l to lay out Limn guineas for Mr. Lefevre in the second year of ai- appoim mini, he purchased three yearlings ■ r 150 guineas, all winnen, but of these far and away the best was Hauteur, bj Boeicrarlan Haw thorndale, l»red by Mr. Cares Gibson. She won fire race* a- a 1 wo ear ohl and subsequently the One Thousand Guineas, alter a tine race with Count de Lagranges Malibran, which was trained bj hi-father. tmoug Jennings itatroua one ,,r the most consistent is M. Bdmoad Blanc, for wl 1 be has trained intermittently for mam yean. He al-, train, , 1 for the hit,- Comte de Berteax. H. J. Prat, and M. A. gtaub, all I rem h si, oil-men of the high • -1 standing, a, id a: the present tine, as for a long While past, he -till lei- Charge Of the lew il . -,- owned lis Captain Laing and Mr. Leonard Brassej Recelltll he ha- had Charge of Plorimond, Nua,!!-, l.e M.lior .111. 1 Cioeenda ideadi for 1. Blanc, but these are under orders to return shortly to Fra ace. Tom Jennings has turned on, some or the best light weigh jockeys of modern times, and among th *e liiTltTS at the agraf-pl time are .1. Chibis. who In-achieved a great repdtatidrTii feais.it, and .lelliss I liisl JOckej io sir It. W. B. Jurdine. -"Vigilant," in Loudon gnorttmai


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1915081201/drf1915081201_2_4
Local Identifier: drf1915081201_2_4
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800