Riders in Big Match Race: Sande and Donoghue Leading Jockeys in Respective Lands, Daily Racing Form, 1923-10-18

article


view raw text

jRIDERS IN BIG MATCH RACE l . Sande and Donoghue Leading Jockeys in Respective Lands. American Star Had First Experience in Saddle on "Western Cow Ponies SteTes Career Filled with Variety. i The rivalry between the American and English jockeys who will take part in the UlOO.OOO International race, between the Ep-fsom Derby winner, Papyrus, and the American three-yearrold, Zev, is fully as great as that between the horses, as they are the best jockeys in their respective countries at this time. Earl Sande, who will ride Zev, is recognized as the premier rider of the United States. He will be 25 years old on November 13 next He was born at Groton, S. D., and learned the rudiments of horsemanship in the same school as Johnson, the Fators and other successful -jockeys, his first mounts being on cow ponies on the ranges in the vicinity of his home. Like other western lads he took part in many impromptu races at home and at local ffairs South Dakota has a circuit of fairs where horse racing is a great attraction but it was not until the autumn of 1917 that lie had a chance to become a real jockey. He joined the stable of the well-known western owner, Joseph Goodman, and went to the Fair Grounds track at New Orleans. He finished second in his first professional race, and on January 22, 1918, won his first race on the horse Prince S. SANDE ATTRACTS ATTENTION. Sande attracted the attention of horsemen from the first and it wasnt long until he was getting a lot of engagements. Goodman transferred the lads contract to Johnson and Kane and he was riding for them when H. G. Bedwell noticed him. Bedwell was at that time training the big stable of Commander J. K. L. Ross of Canada, one of the most powerful aggregations of thoroughbreds in the country. It was the first time that Sande had had a chance in a stable which comprised such well-known animals as Cudgel, Sir Barton, Billy Kelly, Constancy and others of that type and it wasnt long until he had earned the reputation of being the leading jockey in this country. With Bedwell training and Sande riding, the Ross stable had great success at all the prominent tracks in this country and Canada. Sande left the employ of Commander Ross after Frank Keogh was given the mount on Sir Barton in the match race with Man o "War at Winsor in 1920. Commander Ross announced publicly at the time that there was no reflection on the integrity of Sande. the substitution of Keogh being made in the belief that Sande was not riding in his best form at that time. Commander Ross was told at the time that , . It meant the loss of Sande, who showed the sort of resentment a lad of his spirit would be expected to display. HILDRETH ENGAGES SANDE. Sam Hildreth, who has as keen an eye for a good rider as he has for a likely horse, stepped in and engaged Sande at a large salary and it is safe to say that the clever young westerner will wear the Ran-cocas jacket of Harry F. Sinclair as long as he is light enough to ride. , Sande was a good jockey before he came to Hildreth, but under the tutelage of that master his skill has ripened and he is today as finished a jockey as this country has ever known and when that is said the reputations made by Hayward, McLaughlin, Garrison, Fitzpatrick, Maher, Sloan and other American stars are not forgotten. His handling of Grey Lag, Mad Hatter, Purchase and other horses will long be remembered. While Sande has never led the jockeys of the country in any one year it is only because he has not ridden during the winter i months. His percentage of victories, taking! the number of races he has ridden into consideration, is high. Like Donoghue, he has at faultless pair of hands, a seat that is the envy of other riders, and has that hyp-l notic quality of making horses run which i has been an asset of the great jockeys of all times. He is alert at the post, almost invariably away from the gate among the leaders. He is a foeman worthy of the steel of Steve Donoghue or any other rider in the world. DONOGHUES EARLY CAREER. Steve Donoghue, Englands premier jockey, Who will have the mount on Papyrus in his race against Zev, was born November 8, 1884, at Warrington, in Lancashire of Irish parents. None of his people had ever been connected with horses, but little Steve, while he was working half time in the wire works, devoted his spare hours to learning the rudiments of a profession in which he has been a most conspicuous success. At 13 years of-, age he ran away from home and presented himself before the noted trainer, John Porter, at Chester. Mr. Porter, after some reluctance, gave the lad a chance. In his first race, in 1903, he was beaten a neck. Ho was successful the second time he rode, thus equaling Sandes record in that respect. Donoghue rode in France in the latter part of 1903 and relates with a twinkle in his eye how he was soundly spanked by George Dodd when he lost a race on Iris at Longchamps. It was in 1907 that Donoghue met Richard Croker for the first time. He attached himself to the stable, of the ex-Tammany chieftain and won numerous good races in his colors, supplanting John Thompson as the leading jockey in that country, where he headed the list for three years. Then followed a period of free lancing during which he rode in France, Belgium and Ira-land, "living on boats and trains," to use his own language, during a recent chat in London. His first Derby winner was Sol Joels Pommern. It was a war Derby run atNew-market instead of Epsom. His next victory in that great classic was achieved on Mr. Fairies Gay Crusader, "a good horse," as Steve remarked in telling of the race. Humorist, owned by J. B. Joel, was the next great horse he piloted to victory at Epsom. Then came Lord Woolavingtons Captain Cuttle in 1922, to be followed by Benjamin Irishs Papyrus in 1923. Humorist, Captain Cuttle and Papyrus made a trio in successive years that brought him the gold spurs which has been the reward for such an achievement ever since racing became an institution in England. While Donoghue is exceedingly proud of winning five Derbys he takes greater satisfaction in the fact that he was sent for by the King and congratulated after he had finished first with Captain Cuttle. Donoghue has led the English jockeys the past eight years and he was again in the lead when he sailed for the United States on board the Olympic last Wednesday. He is a sort of public idol with the race going public. He is a frequenter of the music halls, theaters, restaurants and other places of amusement nightly and is known to everybody. No matter how late he may be up, however, he is on hand in the morning for exercise gallops or trials which frequently take place at Newmarket some sixty-six miles from London. Nature gave Donoghue a physique which has enabled him to keep at riding weight without reducing. In this respect he is like few jockeys, most of whom have to deny themselves the good things of life in order to scale the regulation weights. He can ride at 108 at any time and frequently has taken mounts at 103 pounds. DOKOGHUE KEEN OBSERVER. The British rider talks and writes well and is a keen student of human nature. He has a faculty of knowing what is going on all through every race in which he takes part, not only as far as his own mount is concerned, but those of the other boys. Because of this faculty owners and trainers respect his opinion to a degree that would not be understood in this country. The crack English horseman is about as popular in Prance as he is at home, and he has won some of the French classics, one of his most notable achievements being the winning of the Grand Prix de Paris of 1922 with Kefalin. He thinks nothing of riding at an English track on Saturday and flying to one of the French courses to take part in a program on Sunday, returning to England that night or early next morning to fill his engagements at a meeting in some part of the United Kingdom on Monday. He has frequently ridden races at two different courses in England on the same afternoon. He has a beautiful seat and fine hands. Donoghue has two sons and a daughter and bewails the fact that neither of .his boys so far has shown any fondness for horses. He lives in fine style in an apart-, ment in a fashionable section of London, is in love with his profession and is bound to make friends during his stay in this country, where he will be domiciled at the Biitmore Hotel. Donoghue arrived in New York Tuesday and will be avaiable for the final workouts of Papyrus.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1923101801/drf1923101801_16_2
Local Identifier: drf1923101801_16_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800