SUCCESSFUL HORSEMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 54

SUCCESSFUL HORSEMEN.

Higga heads the list of- winning jockeys J with 146 successes in 734 tries, an. average * of 19.89, barely ,ehoit of one in five. Last \ year he -was first with 149 in 682, an aver- - age of 21.96. In 1905 Wheatley's 124 -was • enough to land him. at the top, Higgs ' third with 107; in earlier . days •it used to take a great many more wins to eraure \ supremacy. Thus in 1882 and 1883 Chaxiea 3 Wood scored 182 and ,186, but was only an 1 indifferent" second, being 28 and 4fr behind " the' leader. That leader,- of course, was * Fred' Archer, and her© is his Tecord for 12 \ years r— r ' 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 ~ 1880, ' I 172 207 218 229 197 120 i ISBL 1882 1883 1884 1885 1S8&- , 220 _ 210 232 , 241 , 246 ITO > Aroher's drop in 1880 was due to -iie t'acfc i that,- having been - savaged by a P called Muley Edris, he .was kept out of ' the saddle "for many weeks* His averages l> were extraordinarily g00d..; Thus at 1881 i he was only up in ,532, races, o£ which, he, v won 220 and' was unplaced 129 ,■ times. »- Others of the leading jockeys of that'day r used jte do better than 25 ger cenfc^; thus H Woods-f igures were 153 wins in 543 races, i i Tom <3annon'a 75 in -255. It might' be t thought that there are many-more jockeys i riding 1 now than, there used to be, *nd tha* 1 r therefore those" who did. best years ago- > J -had more chances, because" theie was -less i opposition ; but the - increase' ie much l smaller, than I am" inclined to think -noe* i ' people imagine. During the season just 1} over races haye been -won* by 65 .jockey a r arid >by J64 apprentices, or 129 in all. In : 1881^ I £nd that 113 1 jockeys and- appren- > ticeH" carried off races on the' 1970 horses s that ran— a very small total,- by -the way, • for 11 years- earlier; in 1870, as .many as , 2569 went to -the post. At -the time of i writing the figures^ for_ the year have not L been published, but' last season there were r 3539 runners for £540^03 16s.

' A SUSPICIOUS CASE. - [ lij last week's notes comment .was nad« " upon, the reversals of form," displayed at.the ' i Southland meeting; - and N in one ' case 'the * f'j writer has been. "informed flic reversal -was "got'at" the noise pribu to jte being taken. td the -eovurse for the' race in which, the owner , decided to start. Those who were 1 present^on- -the iirst^ day of the' Southland! [ OkibW 'meeting- will • remember tho^ ''I decisive - manner . invwhich Red • Morn - won" ' the. Flying Handicap. ' Her next appearance was" in the Final .handicap, in. which she ' had 61b. off her "back-, but had ix> -ace -over 'an 'additional' quarter- of a mile. She- was. ' ' however, apparently welt beaten in the Final 1 ' Handicap before running six furlongs, ;and! ultimately, finished last. ' On her return tot ■ - the weighing enclosure the mare was con1 j siderably distressed, and evidently some- > thing Had happened- .^which , prevented her> J» running up to expectations.- 'She may have ' I accidentally "filled" herself, but the owner j is under, the impression thafc,-Bome kind ' • friend, labouring under -an .hallucinating that: ; the mare wafi-iackiriK'nourisknient, supplied what* "was deemeH -necessary; -witn the un-, fortunate result that Red Morn -was last instead - -of close -to where - her supporters . expected ■ to- find her 1 " at the finish of the ■ " race. 1 * The -owner would like- to find out who so 'kindly ministered to *ihe- wants of I Red 1 Morn,' but despite the fact that 2050v3 have been offered iof his, identification, the - "Good Samaritan" has modestly declinecHo ' reveal himself.

> ' — , VAGARIES .OP FORM. y Mr W. JB. Fureioy,, 'the owner of lafly. . winners of -about £20,000- ia stakes,, writes al ! regular turf, article in. * v Lon<fon weeklyi Mr v Purefoy once refused 1 £20,000 for Lally.. , Jn> a recent" issue of his. paper, Mr Purefoy ' is interesting on. '."Vagaries of Form," frorar which we clip* the fallowing: — "In" the Weekly Dispatch {writes Lally's owner) X noticed--some time ago an article .headedf ' Vagaries of Form,' . which- , I fancy our friend, the 'Anserous One,' in Truth would! describe as- the 'veriest ba.ider.daeh.' I£ he doesn't, he ought to, and I will. This? 'scribe' makes a- calm suggestion to jho stewards of the jockey elnb — gentlemen singularly able to take care of themselves-, mark 'you.— that they should constantly investigate what he falls' Vagaries of Form. * He confesses that this course would probably make -owner* give up raoing.'in. disgust, but calmly says that there are- too -many ..horses on , training." Why, -may I -ask? • I£ lie number of horses m training 1 - were reduced, trainers would.be thrown, out of employment, likewise -efcable-lads_; it would 'ia harder to 'fill' races', all- .meetings -would suffer, arid some would' bei" wiped, out- Railway, companies, farmers, veterinary "surgeons, everyone would 'suffer, and- who would. 'gain? * It is practically /impossible, -to jnaJce,' racing pay nowadays,, and if, in Addition., to that, an owner is to b"e constantly annoyed by being asked to explain every ' little discrepancy of form X should l imagine most wealthy ownere would' at once quit. To my mind, the way form works- out" so often correctly is marvellous. I have bred, owned; and superintended- the training*, of horses for; over a quarter, of avcentury and know what" extraordinarily d«^ljcate' animals many of our thoroughbreds are, and probably tending 1 to become more so in many ways as xa continue in-breedinjr. - Many horses will feed up even if /lead- 'off' ; they can't talk^ and the only way" of knowing ifteyare off is by taking their „ temperatures, and .even that may tell one nothing in may cases. At the Newbury Summer meeting I hadl an extra good look at Prospector -as,., ho was led out, as I believed, and believe stin^-thafr he. is a smasher. I thought ho - " looked beautiful, and such an experienced and careful man as Sir~Oharke Nugent had detected nothing wrong t-with him, or- I need 1 not say he would not have run, ana thereby jeopaidisedr his chances *>t his many and valuable future engagements. Yet that horse, after "the race, was, so eeriouslji amiss that he very "nearly died, and he must, of course,- have been amiss before it* -That is. only one' case in a -thousand), however. , The in-bred- greyhound, after a severe course, frequently lies down and v dies, and, the in-bred, racehorse^ after 'a severe gallop, often loses his form altogether, or, .at: . any Tate, for weeks and. months. Polan -Star is a case in point; though -"he won th© Jubilee in „ fine jjtyle,-andk without apparently undue effort; it finished him, fon the rest of the season, at all events. "Tier fact is that if stay-at-home hackers fancy, they can make money on the year or on at succession of yeans by following the tips of obscure or even eminent scribes, thq

eooner they disabuse- their- minds on -the' Bnbject the better, and. cease to pay attention to lie obscure scribes who try-to explain their "tips not coming- off by shrieking: at vagaries of form .and .suggesting sharp practices. - Horses are less 'weeded* now than ever they -wer-e> and handicappers cleverer and'mor-e- alert than ever they were. - What is more, the bcttled-up horse seldom, -wins;, horses «ddn forget how to xace, and « run in pubKo is often as much use to a horse and brings him en . as much as a > month's training at home. I say this with ihe-.greatest conSdencev not only, from, the practical experience of'su quarter of a cen-tury-of-my own, -but from talking the matter over with many ~of the cleverest -and ■roosfc experienced men.. of the day. So I think bur friend^ Che ..scribe of the We&tly Tfepatch,, -ae&A noir make any *nore. 'Suggestions^ to "the Jockey Club.' In the yre- - sent " stewards; of the jockey club, at any rate,_ ownexs "have, confidence' in" -their impartiaHty r and the public have confidence in their integrity and vigilance."-