view raw text
AMERICAN RIDERS ABROAD * George Hodgman Tells of the Decline of British Supremacy. ♦ How the American Jockeys Showed Their Superiority — Pnts the Blame on English Trainers and Owners. * The alarm with which British turfmen witnessed the successful invasion of England by American jockeys early in the present century is indicated by the following account, taken from "Sixty Years on the Turf," the memoirs of George Hodgman. He writes of that period when Sloan and many other famous American riders were brought to England : Had anybody some ten or twenty years ago dared to hint that the first season of the twentieth century would see American jockeys in such demand in England as by their presence to be a serious danger to the livelihood of many of the home school his alleged foolishness would have been hed a fit matter of ridicule. Yet the apparently impossible change has come about and there are no sgns of any abatement of the invasion ; rather the reverse is threatened. In truth, to judge by American communications the United States will soon be bereft of its leading professionals, the offers emanating from English owners being of irresistible character. That there are still English owners who are firm believers in the old school must be allowed. But the great trend of opinion runs solid for the Yankees when they preserve the proprieties. Only his folly in pursuing practices he must have known the turf authorities could not tolerate has caused the absence of Tod Sloan from the saddle in England. COWPER OUT OF DATE. If the present state of affairs is satisfactory to the English division, then indeed are they easy to please. "We yet retain Some small pre-eminence. We justly boast At least superior jockeyship, and claim The honors of the turf as all our own." This may have been true at the time the poet Cowper designed the preceding lines. But it is so far from the truth now as to cause the quotation to carry a quaintness never anticipated by the author. Superior jockeyship, if not all the honors of the turf, were, in truth, our own when in 1857 we saw the American Tankerly taken off Trioress after she had dead-heated with El Hakim and Queen Bess for the Cesare-witch. and a different result ensue with the substitution of Fordham. In fact, because of the conspicuous lack of ability in the American riders Mr. Ten Broeck was eager for the services of Englishmen. JOCKEYS NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES. So it comes to this: That in the course of fifty years— that magnificent half-century of progress the historians delight to dwell upon — our English jockeys have so misused their opportunities that instead of American owners looking for English riders, English owners are scouring the States for American jockeys, whose countrymen rarely give patronage to our riders. The fault is not with the modern boys. It attaches to the trainers, and in the first place, perhaps, to the owners. I have often discussed the matter with the heads of the training profession. "Why dont you bring out apprentices?" "Whats the good of taking the trouble?" is the general answer. "Owners wont put them up." "But you could use them for your own horses." "Oh, its a deal of trouble and doesnt pay." PERSEVERANCE NEEDED. It might not in the beginning, for most on the turf are indelibly and in a painful degree wedded to fashion. But in the end, with perseverance, would come the reward. Thomas Dawson was not a man who affected foolishness; and what boys he turned out! It was the same with old John Osborne and in a greater degree with J. Godding, from whose hands came polished jockeys such as French. David Plumb, Huxtable. Sayers. Parry, Butler. Wilson and others ; while Matthew Dawson sent out, among many others, Archer, F. Webb and Billy Grey. Once upon a time a trainer regarded a good home boy as necessary as a good horse or two. My own plan with my trainers boys was to put them up on any available occasion. As I have mentioned before, though I was sure Victorious could in the mile Nursey at Goodwood in 1S64 give the weight to Victory, I nevertheless ran the latter for the sake of Morris. "Why do you run Victory? Has he a chance?" asked Admiral Rouse. "Not a thousand to one," I answered. "Then why run him?" "To give Morris a chance." "Oh, a mighty good plan," the Admiral answered. In thus acting I was serving the boys as well as myself. When I wanted them for a "good thing" they were always at hand and ready. In this way I assisted in the polishing of Heartfield, Morris. Quince. Vidler, Johnson. Gaston, Mitchell and many others and they all could be trusted to ride well ; some magnificently. In this way the old was continually being leavened with the new. In those days we never had to murmur at the absence of capable recruits.
