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IFRENCH WRITER ON JOCKEYS Leading European Saddle Stars Old and New Discussed Otto Schmidt Leading German Rider of 1922 Was Developed by Fred Taral Leaders in Italy and Belgium The leading German jockey of 1922 is Otto Schmidt of Berlin under contract to the Weinberg stable He has been riding since 1915 During the last year he rode eightythree winners winnersHe He is said to be a good enough rider though not in the same class with Kasten berger and Janek but he has the advantage of being connected with the stable which breeds and races the best horses in Ger ¬ many Schmidt was developed by Fred Taral once a star American rider and now a trainer who led the Hungarian jockey list for seven years while riding for the Barons Uechtritz and Springer SpringerTaral Taral returned to New York after his Hungarian riding was finished and opened a cafe He lost his entire fortune in the venture and then went to Germany where he trained the Weinberg horses with astound ¬ ing success But when the soninlaw of one of the Weinbergs Count Spreti as ¬ sociated himself with the stable Taral re ¬ turned to America for good goodSpeaking Speaking of riders and cafes that busi ¬ ness has never been a particularly good one for retired jockeys Milner at Brussels Sloan and Milton Henry at Paris never made a cent in their ventures venturesCOM3IENT COM3IENT OF BELGIAN PLUNGER PLUNGERThis This reminds me of the comment of a Belgian plunger who had just lost a lot of money on the mount of a lightweight jockey If there were no more racing he said these little shrimps would not be any good even to serve a beer beerSome Some time later during the war I was in a London restaurant Suddenly a ter ¬ rible clatter sent the frightened diners into a spasm of excitement A Zeppelin No a waiter had just dropped a huge tray of dishes And I recognized in the waiter who stood surveying the huge pile of smashed crockery with discomfiture the little jockey who three months before had been the object of the prohetic remark of the disgruntled Belgian player playerIn In Italy during 1922 an Austrian jockey Varga rode the largest number of winners He rode for the Oldaniga stable and would have ridden a much larger number of win ¬ ners if his employer Dr Gussi had not set him down for a month after he had ridden a horse for a stable of which the doctor did not approve in violation of the provisions of his contract contractLEADING LEADING BELGIAN RIDERS RIDERSMorjau Morjau of Brussels leads the Belgian jockeys with more than a hundred winning mounts Since August he has not been al ¬ lowed to ride any except the horses of his contract employer M Wittouck Morjau was developed by trainer Grundy who is now in Ireland Varga was an apprentice to Franck Butters The best judges say Varga is a firstclass rider considerably better in any case than the average run of Italian jockeys jockeysDonoghue Donoghue who equalled Archers record of nine consecutive years of leadership in Eng ¬ land during the past season would have won far more than the 103 victories to his credit during 1922 if he had not been so fond of riding in France He came to Paris often by airplane during the spring and sum ¬ mer to ride in races He rode the winner of the Grand Prix de Paris but his trips back and forth however rapid undoubtedly cut down his winning record in England EnglandENGLISH ENGLISH RACING CRY CRYIn In the silence which reigns during the running of an English race almost always ata given moment rises the cry Come on Steve But in the words of Huxtable who originated the classic reply to the Duchess of Montrose Steve comes or does not come acording to whether or not his mount is capable of coming with him himAH AH famous jockeys have had nicknames Fordham was the Demon Archer the Tin ¬ man Jellis the Hunchback Osborne Honest John and there are plenty of others othersThere There was considerable disagreement at the time on the relative merits of Fordham and Archer Some contended that Fordham was the better rider but this was usually after they had witnessed one of his finishes with a whip in full play Usually the horse would probably have won more easily with ¬ out these great gestures gesturesArcher Archer was much finer And it is the in ¬ telligence in the head rather than in th arm and in the whip which makes a great nder On the tomb of Fordham are graven these words Tis the pace that kills The maxim is still true although with the advent of the American style of riding now uni ¬ versally adopted the art of waiting has lost much of its value In Fordhams day to lead from end to end except under the lightest of weights was unheard of To win the Grand Prix de Paris after forcing the pace all the way as did Spearmint or the Prix du Conseil Municipal as did Dauphin would have been considered out of all reason in those days Viator in Le Jockey
