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Frank Wootton on Jockeyship An interview with the English jockey, Frank Wootton. published recently in the London Sportsman, gives many interesting sidelights on the career of a successful rider. It is reproduced in full below: To be in the highest class in all phases of the jockeys art has only fallen to the lot of one man — Frank Wootton. His record as a flat race jockey is well known. He headed the list of Englands winning riders in 1909, 1910. 1911 and 1912. After serving in the war he came back to show us his transcendent ability in the saddle over the hurdle and , steeplechase courses. Weight precluded him from following his profession on the flat. The writer was lucky enough to obtain an interview with Frank last week, and obtained many interesting facts and opinions concerning his career. Asked about the commencement Wootton said : "I can scarcely remember when I first commenced riding, but it must have been when I was from three to four years of age. My father was always interested in horses and took the greatest trouble to teach me how to ride. "That his" tuition must have been of the best is reflected from the fact that I rode my first winner when I was a little over nine years of age. "I shall never forget it. It was in South Africa in 1905. at Johannesburg. "My father had gone there from Australia, and taken twenty horses with him, and I need hardly say that he was extremely successful with them. "We went back to Australia shortly afterward and came to England in 1906. though we did not bring many animals with us — only two race horses and an old hack, which is alive now. "No. I did not ride in Australia You see, a boy cannot ride there until he is fourteen years of age. "The tracks in that country are smaller than they are here, the majority of them being a mile, or a little over, round, and tbe turns make racing for boys extremely dangerous. "Thus the wise precaution is taken in that country of preventing youngsters under fourteen years of age from acting as jockeys. "In Africa I rode a good deal, even after winning my first race at nine years of age. "I used to ride in the morning at exercise, and go to school in the afetrnoon, or vice versa, as things suited me. "My first ride in public was a winning ride, and this undoubtedly gave me plenty of confidence, although I was never short of that," added Frank smilingly. "FINDS HIS FEET." "It was not until I came to England and was told by my father to watch the best jockeys and see how they rode that I began to find my feet, so to speak. "Now, I want to make some startling disclosures to you. I learned practically everything I know from a Yankee. "The crack rider at that time was Danny Maher, and I question whether there has ever been so brilliant a rider on the flat, although many people have been good enough , to say that I was his equal. "Maher had an entirely different style from i the Australians. "I do not know whether you know, but the I Australians ride on the horses neck and hold their hands quite low down. "You see an exponent of this style of riding in Gray, the New Zealand jockey. "To my mind it is a great disadvantage | — it prevents you from utilizing your strength in a strenuous finish. "Danny Maher never rode in the Australian " way. He rode with a longer rein and with his hands on the horses withers. "In this position Maher had a better control over his horse than had the Australian 1 jockeys. He was more perfectly balanced, and it gave him that strength in the saddle 1 which was a striking and notable feature ; of his riding. WATCHES DANNY MAHER. "For months, as a young boy, I watched him ride, learned almost every trick and all 1 his methods. "The thing which astounded me was his perfect mastery of balance, and in this I endeavored to copy him, until at last, after r years of practice, I succeeded. "I used to take an advantageous position 1 on the stands and watch every phase of a 1 race. "When you are young you are keen. The whole of my thoughts were on jockeyship. • Nothing was lost to me, and anything that puzzled me I inquired about from my father, and in this way obtained perfect knowledge. • "It was not long before I lost my allowance. I lost it without having ridden forty winners, three years after riding my first. • "No. I never copied any one but Maher. ■ That rider was in his heyday. He stood out J by himself, as in all probability he would now were he alive. "I must admit that I had every advantage - to become a jockey. My father, when he e came to England, trained only for himself and Mr. H. J. Hall now Sir H. J. Hall, an 1 Australian, who had a big interest in the - Australian wine industry. "It was afterward that he trained for Sir Edward Hulton and a gentleman named Gould." The writer had often seen Wootton. when 1 a boy, look round when riding in a race. I I asked him about this pernicious habit and 3 how he cured himself, for he was at one e time terribly addicted to It. "My father." said Wootton, "told me about t it, and every time I looked round I got a X severe wigging. "You are quite right," he said, in reply to my question, "it is the worst habit that any jockey can be guilty of. "Even the most accomplished horseman is S apt to become unbalanced through it and j thus stop his horse at the crucial moment when the animal wants all the assistance e you can give him to nurse him home." "What about riding close to the rails, you ask?" said Wootton. "Well, my father always instilled into me e the necessity for so doing. Your horse runs - straighter and you go the nearest way. "Maher was a great man for the rails, as a you know, quite as much as I ever was. "Danny, in all probability, lost the Leger* t in 1910, which I won on Swynford, because e he would not come away from them. He never found an opening. . "He made a mistake on Lemberg on that occasion, but the rails undoubtedly pay as a , , i I | " 1 1 ; 1 I r 1 1 • • • ■ J - e 1 - 1 I I 3 "In sticking to the rails I always weighed up the chances of other horses dropping out. If I was under the impression that they would not I pulled out immediately. "There are times, no doubt, when you cannot, but this all depends on the jockeys judgment and his opinion of the horses in front of him. "Did I help my father? Well, I think I was of considerable use to him. "Through constantly riding in races and being observant I quickly found out horses which were badly ridden and told my father about them. "He many times secured the mounts on them for me the next time, and thus I was able not only to ride winners, but to assist in swelling the governors banking account, for he always backed me if I had the mount on horses that I thought could win. GOOD JUDGE OF HORSES. "I must have been a good judge as a youngster, for I was seldom mistaken. Not only so, but I often induced my father to buy horses which, in my opinion, if they were ridden other than I had seen them ridden, would be remunerative purchases. "Many of his horses were bought in this way, and quite a number of them proved exceedingly good bargains and did us a lot of good by winning races. "No, I do not like the riding undc r National Hunt rules as well as riding on the flat. The principal reason is that the weather, as a rule, is so bad. "Riding at exercise on cold and wet mornings, and turning out in races in wretched weather, is not conducive to enthusiasm. "Not only so. although there is a certain amount of excitement in riding over the jumps, the thrills, to my mind, are not so intense as on the flat. "There is much more quick brain work required in flat-race riding. The speed at which your horse goes and the shorter distances make many every-varying positions, all of which want studying to enable you to get the best of the argument until you approach the winning post. "Your horse has to be nursed to the very best of your ability, and the excitement and nervous attention throughout a race are such as wotiid always appeal to me more than does riding over the jumps. LIKES TO RIDE IN BOTH. "Not that I do not like riding in both steeplechase and hurdle races. It is the next best thing to flat-race riding." "Why have I discarded riding in steeplechases ? "Well, I decided to discard riding in steeplechases because, in my opinion, you cannot do both properly. That is to say, if you ride in steeplechases you require a different seat altogether from riding over hurdles. "You cannot ride with the same perfect balance on your horse over hurdles if you also ride in steeplechases. "That is the reason why Duller, who discarded steeplechasing and by dint of perse-; verance and practice obtained that perfect balance on a horse when riding in hurdle races which has made him stand out as the best rider of all time over the smaller obstacles. "I do not compare myself with Duller at present, because I have not had the prac-1 tice. But through the elimination of steeplechase riding I am gradually becoming more and more perfect over hurdles, and I hope in time to have no superior. HINTS TO YOUNG JOCKEYS. "You want me to give you a few hints for boys who hope to become jockeys. "Well, they must copy the best jockeys of their day. I can tell them that the great thing in riding is balance. They must be- come perfect by practice. "They must enedavor to become part and parcel of the horse they are riding and avoid rolling about. "They must never use the whip until they are sufficiently proficient to be able to do so without altering their balance on a horse. "This is one of the most difficult things the flat race jockey has to learn. "Plenty of practice in riding trials is ex-5 ceedingly good for boys. But I can tell the youngsters that the more practice they get in public the better. "You learn more in half a dozen races in public than you do in riding at exer- cise or in riding any number of trials at home, because you are pitted against the finest jockeys in the world in this country. If you can only get practice in public and have any intelligence and make up your mind by perseverance and hard work to become a jockey nothing will prevent you from doing so. "My father was a hard task master, and if the master of any young boy appears to be a little harsh and hard my advice to him is to put up with it. "There is no doubt that the old hands know more than you do and can teach you much. "Even after you have ridden a few win-f ners do not think you know everything. Hundreds of young and budding jockeys have been spoiled by a swelled head. "In their opinion they know more than a Carslake or a Mher, when they are prac-" tically, if they knew it, extremely ignorant, and have only commenced the first phase of learning the art of jockeyship." . * _
