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ORIGIN OF MONKEY CROUCH London Sportsmans "Special Commissioner" Theories on Start of Riding Style. Mr. Allison, the "Special Commissioner? of the London Sportsman, does not agree with the findings of the Hon. George Lamb-ton, whose reminiscences were published in Daily Racing Form recently, as to the origin of the so-called American style of riding in England. Instead of crediting the Americans with originating the "monkey crouch," he gives the honor to "John Gilpin," and quotes parts of Cowpers poem to prove it. His remarks as published in the Sportsman follow: Mr. George Lamb ton in his wholly admirable reminiscences somewhat regrets the introduction of the American style of riding, though he fully admits it has come to stay. He does not recognize, however, as I did long ago in the Sportsman, that the originator of this method of race riding was the ever-famous John Gilpin, of whom we read : " So stooping down, as needs he must Who cannot sit upright. He grasped the mane with both his hands. And eke with all his might. His horse, who never in that sort Had handled been before, What thing upon his back had got Did wonder more and more. Away went Gilpin who but he? His fame soon spread around, He carries weight ! He rides a race ! Tis for a thousand pounds 1 "The proof of the pudding is in the eating, for the wild career of John Gilpin on that day from Cheapside to Edmonton, Ware, and back again was little short of 30 miles, and yet even the six gentlemen upon the road, who cut in near the finish, could not catch him, they riding on their old-fashioned poker-backed style, nor could the postboy, though his horse was " Right glad to miss the lumbering of the wheels. "Surely one of the best lines ever written by poet, ancient or modern. That Gilpin was riding a race was accepted in a sporting spirit by all the toll-men: " And so he did, and won it, too, For he got first to town ; Nor stopped till where he had got up, He did again get down. "It would be absurd, of course, to claim that Gilpin designedly rode in the fashion described by Cowper with a view to assisting his horse, but the method which he adopted had a great result, from which a later generation has profited. How is it possible that John Gilpin, with fresh horses jumping in towards the finish, could have got first to town after compassing such a distance, had not his method of stooping down relieved the horse so much that he was a match for all pursuers right up to the finish? "Thus did John Gilpin unwittingly, and certainly against his will, introduce a novel method of jockeyship, which, in our slow insular environment, would not be accepted j for a moment by his contemporaries, but j later and sharper-witted generations have adopted it with profit, as Mr. Lambton admits, though he does not like it."
