RICHARDS AND ARCHER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 155, 29 December 1938, Page 13

RICHARDS AND ARCHER

The announcement that G. Richards has topped the list of winning jockeys for the eighth successive year, with 205 successful mounts, again invites comparison with the race-riding career of the all-time champion, F. Archer.

Richards, 34 years old, is in his prime and at the height of his fame; Archer was dead at 26. Richards has been a jockey for 18 years, but it was not until his third season that he became prominent, riding 49 winners in 324 mounts. His best year was 1933, -when he piloted his mount to victory 259 times in 925 rides, and five times he has exceeded the tally of 200. For several years past, excepting in 1936, when an accident put him aside for several weeks, his average for the season has been about 950 rides, with about two wins in every nine. This percentage does not make Richards a payable jockey to follow —quite the contrary, as the horses he rides are invariably at short odds. To date, Richards has ridden 2321n winners, but he is still some distance behind Archer's total of 2748. Archer's record was achieved in 8085 appearances, giving the phenomenal record of a win in every 2.95 rides. In only three of the eleven seasons that he graced the Turf did Archer ride fewer than 200 winners, yet his best year was that before his death, 1885, when he had 246 winning rides. This serves further to accentuate his marvellous consistency. • •'••'■_ Richards has been trying for 18 years to win the Derby, with a highly selective list of colts; Archer rode the Derby colt five times. between . 1877 and 1886. He piloted six St. Leger winners and four fillies who won the Oaks. .