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Memoirs of the British Turf i . 1 , 1 i , . 1 , 1 ; i BY THE IIOX. GEORGE LAMBTOX. Sixteenth Article. At: the end of that Liverpool autumn meeting I had one dope left. I had made no secret of what I was doing, and a friend of mine asked me to Rive him one of these dopes for a horse called Cheers, which had been a good one but had "turned it up" and run badly all the year. I gave him my last one, and the following week at Derby he beat a big field for the Nuneaton Plate with the dope inside him. Included in the runners was a horse of my own, Andrea Ferrara, which .1 greatly fancied. By the following year doping was made a criminal offense, to be punished by "warning off." Some people say there is a good deal of it going on now. I dont believe it, as the penalty is too severe, although it is possible there are some people who will take the risk. The dope undoubtedly has a, wonderful effect on a bad horse, but I am told that it acts in just the contrary way on a good, honest one. In the bad horse it supplies the pluck and energy that are wanting. In the good one it overdoes it, and he will .run himself out quickly. Rather a curious case occurred with a horse that I trained. He came to me from another stable, and his trainer, who had not had him long, told me that he was sure he had been doped, for after he received him the horse was in a most peculiar state, and all his coat had come off. Acting on this information I gave the horse a good chance to recover. After a long rest I had him in splendid condition and tried him well. Directly he got on a race course there was nothing doing. After several races I advised the owner to get rid of him, as by this time doping was illegal, and I was convinced that he would not win a race without it. So he was entered in a selling race and advertised to be sold after the race. I said to the owner, "You will see, this horse will be bought by the man who did so well with him before." In the race the horse was nearer last, than first, and when he was put up for sale I saw the agent of the man I suspected bidding for him. He fetched quite double what he was worth on the form he had been showing. Ten days later I went to a race meeting and arrived there just in time to see the first race. Something ridden by Danny Maher came out looking all over a winner, when I suddenly saw the horse I had sold ten days ago come up like a whirlwind with his tail going round and snatch the race from Danny Maher in the last hundred yards. HORSE CA"50T BE MADE OVER QUICKC Now there is no doubt that a change of trainers and a change of stables sometimes works wonders with horses, but that is not done in ten days. This race attracted considerable notice, and the activities of this particular trainer ceased not long after this event. He was not warned off, but I be-live that he was closely watched from that moment and, being a clever man, he knew that the game was up. There is no doubt that the Americans started this practice, and Huggins, the trainer, who abominated it himself, told me how it originated. In America they used to race eight or nine days in one particular place, and would then move on to some other district, where the same thing would take place. The consequence was that toward the end of these meetings some of the horses had run several times and would be played out. In fact, it became a survival of the Attest, and every dodge and device was used to keep the poor wretches up to the mark. Some man hit on the marvelous properties of cocaine for the jaded horse. Huggins also gave me interesting information as to the origin of the present style of riding. In. the old days there used to be a lot of what they called "up-country" race meetings. These were primitive affairs, with partially untrained horses and inexperienced rid-ser competing for the races. But often a useful horse was to be picked up at these meetings, and Huggins used to make a practice of sending some good old plater round the country. If anything beat it he would buy it and bring it home, where he found that good training and riding would work immense improvement. CASE OF 2fEGRO RIDERS. Then at a certain period the country people began putting up negro boys on these horses. Huggins, having bought two or three horses that had won with black boys as jockeys, took them home. Instead of finding they were improved by his training, to his surprise they turned out not so good as when he bought them. This puzzled him considerably, and he could not make it out. Then, after he had bought a horse one day, the black boy who rode him begged to be bought too as he wanted to go with the horse. Huggins, liking the appearance of the boy, agreed to take him. When he reached home he tried his new purchase, and it was beaten easily by the very horse it had defeated up country. The black boy went to Huggins and said, "You let me ride; you see what wUl happen." So the experiment was tried, and the darky rolled home. To make a long story short, whatever Huggins put the boy up on was sure to win. It may not be generally known that in those days the American jockeys, who, I believe, were most beautiful horsemen, rode with even longer stirrups and sat more upright than the English. The black boys got their peculiar seat in this way. No one took the trouble to teach them to ride. They were thrown up on some old broncho, with only a rug instead of a saddle, and they used to catch hold of the mane and hang on the best way they could until they had found their balance. You only have to picture the scene in your eye, and you will see how the present seat came about. Huggins soon tumbled to this and to the advantage it gave the horses. That was the beginning of the present style of riding. You cannot oppose it; you cannot like it. It has spoiled much of the beauties of race riding, but it has come to stay, and we must make the best of it. A FEW AMERICAN IMPORTATIONS. So the Americans brought over the dope and the new seat, either of which we could have done without, but they brought over also mueh that was good and simple in the treatment of the horse. It must not be supposed that all Americans doped their horses. Both Huggins and Joy-ner detested the practice. They had s?en too mueh of the mischief it caused in their own country, but when they came over there was no iaw against it. and these people who, like "Wishard, made a study of it, were perfectly within their rights. As soon as they thought they knew how to do it many Englishmen took it up, too, but they were not so successful, as. they did not really understand enough about it. I always thought it was a- great pity that Wishard ever took to it, for he was somewhat of a genius with horses, and would, I am sure, have made a great name for himself without it. His horses generally looked beautiful, and I think the dope he used could not have been a powerful one. I had many a talk with him. He was a most agreeable man. but we never got on the subject about winch I have been writing. Perhaps Wishards greatest success was with Royal Flush. He was a handsome chestnut horse by Favo, and had passed through more than one mans hands. But at the time Wishard bought him he belonged to F. W. Lee, who is well known to the present-day racing public as the handicapper at most of our big meetings. I feel that I ought to say something nice about his handicapping, but much as I like saying pleasant things about people I cannot bring myself to do so about any handicapper. Like every other owner and trainer when I take up my weekly calendar I spend ten minutes cursing their work, whoever they may be ! But I am sure that Royal Flush must have taught his genial and kindly owner what an uncertain thing a race horse may be, for, although well known to be a good horse, he seldom produced his home form in public. But when he had been for some time in the hands of Wishard and ridden by the Reiff brothers he began to show what he could do. After running a good third for the Jubilee at Kempton he won, among other races, the Hunt Cup at Ascot and the Stewards Cup at Goodwood. I remember Wishard telling me to back him in the Hunt Cup, but knowing how often lie had disappointed his former owners I would not do so. What a fool I felt when I saw him run a game, honest race and win by a head ! From that time on he "became better and better," and ended the season by running a match at even weights for ,500 at Hurst Park against Eager, the best sprinter in England at the time. The excitement over this match was intense, and the betting close. The furore for the Americans was at its height, which led people to favor Wishard and Reiff versus Moray Cannon and Ryan. I felt convinced that Eager would win, which he did with ease. The career of Royal Flush hears out my theory that AVishard was a great trainer, as well as a good doper. Whether Royal Flush was helped by a dope I do not know, but if he was it cannot have been a very injurious one, or he would not have kept his form throughout the season as he did, and come out always with the appearance of a perfectly trained horse. To Be Continued.
