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SEMBLATS DOUBLE HONOR First Frenchman Since 1909 to Lead Jockeys of France Garner Was Contender. Charles IT. Semblat, a native of France, topped the list of winning jockeys in that country for the racing season of 1921. He scored a total of eighty-nine victories and had one of the best years any jockey in the country ever had, finishing first on his mounts in several of the major stakes of the country. An added honor has fallen to Semblat, for he is the first Frenchman to be at the head of the winning jockeys since 1909. In all years subsequent to that date either an Englishman or an American has finished the year with the largest number of winners. In 1909 Maurice Barat was the winning jockey. He rode for the Baron de Rothschild and at the end of the year was in the lead with ninety-four winners. He was closely pressed by an Englishman, but he finished in front on Verdun in the Grand Prix de Paris and brought fame and fortune to that stable as well as clinching first place among the jockeys by winning that classic. The race its?lf is one of the most talked of in turf circles in Paris. Verdun, a great lanky racer, went to the post an outsider and even at the start of the event did not show much speed. His jockey was an able one, however, and experts state that Verduns winning the race was due as much to the jockey as to the horse, so well was the animal handled in the stretch run and around tho turns. This year Guy Garner, an American rider, finished in second place for the honor of being the jockey with the most winners. Experts are of the belief that had he been furnished with more and better mounts he might have taken first place. As it was ho had a very successful season and won much popularity with turf followers in France. Semblat, this years leading jockey, long has been associated with racing, his father having been a jockey, trainer and then owner of a well known sable. The elder Semblat did most of his riding in steeplechasing and seldom appeared on the flat, but he made a success of riding and in training he also attracted a great deal of attention. His stable was not a fast one as he was handicapped in finances, so that it was difficult for him to get or maintain a very large string, but he knew a great deal about race horses and this he passed on to his son, now twenty-seven years old, who gives promise of becoming the best jockey Fiance has ever had. :
