Crack Jockey Was Taught By S. Donoghue

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 250, 12 January 1928, Page 7

Crack Jockey Was Taught By S. Donoghue

Gordon Richards Pays Tribute to His Idol ‘THREEPENCE ON STEVE”Gordon Richards, who for the second time in his brief career is Britain’s champion* jockey of the season, has been revealing his “secrets” to a Press representative. Yet there are really no “secrets.” When asked how he “did it,” Richards smiled and replied: “It just comes natural to me. I train hard, ride four or five horses a day, and always race from the moment the tape drops till the end. You see, I have had some wonderful horses to ride, and that makes all the difference. “I don’t suppose I should have ever

become a jockey if it had not been for two girls in a warehouse office at Oakengates, in Shropshire, where I worked. We used to have our threepences or sixpences on our fancies. Mine was always Steve Donoghue’s mounts. “Steve Donoghue .was my boyhood idol, and it was a great moment when I met him. He was attached to the same stable, and he watched me out for gallops several times. Then, one day, he stopped me and told me I would be a good rider if I trained hard. “After that he used to come round two or three times a week and give me hints how to improve my style. He would say: ‘Now, watch me,’ and off he would canter in that beautiful way of his. I tried my best to imitate him, and if I have any particular style at all it is thanks to Steve. He gave me all the teaching I’ve had.” Great Dash Naturally, English racing men are trying to arrive at some reason for G. Richards’s superiority over the otherjockeys riding in the Old Country, and, after he won on The Inconstant Nymph at Newbury last month, the London “Sporting Life” had the following: “Richards’s arms moved backwards and forwards like a well-regulated”piston-rod when he finished on The Inconstant Nymph, and the daughter of The Boss answered very gamely indeed to his dashing methods. Those who watched closely Richards’s tactics on the filly arrived at the solution of his wonderful success in the saddle, and the one word ‘dash’ appears to solve what has been referred to as a ‘mystery.’ “Once Richards has a horse travelling, to his liking, and in its proper stride, he resorts to his power of s’loulder and great energy for the rest. When Tod Sloan was riding with such marked success in England, short leathers became the fashion. Now I suppose all the younger riders will be pinning their faith to a piston-rod action of the arms, and results will be even funnier than were the attempts of some lads to adopt a Tod Sloan seat at a moment’s notice. The ex-Australian Jockey Carslake, when questioned as to what he attributed Richards’s marked success, said balance and riding with a long rein were two factors.”

On the Up-grade Kahu Ariki and The Hawk on the plough at Hastings the other morning finished together over three furlongs in the very fast time of 3655. Kahu Ariki, who a “Tribune” writer stated before Hastings was a fast improving filly, still continues in the same way and the above gallop was by far the best she has yet accomplished. Coming from the same family as Gasbag, Mahutonga, Star Stranger, Lady Lucy, and many other good ones on her dam’s side, it will be surprising if, when she*, is tried over a distance, she does not show the family’s staying ability. The Wellington Stakes Despite Stagliunter’s defeat of Childsplay in the G.N. Foal Stakes recently, the admirers of the filly will be presented with a chance of reducing their losses when the pair meet again in the Wellington Stakes on Saturday week. This is run at weight-for-age over a five-furlong course, and it is expected that this will be in the filly’s favour. It is now reported from Christchurch that Cliildsplay’s rider at Ellerslie states that he was badly interfered with at the five furlongs, but quite apart from this she was beaten when she dwelt at the start and was rushed up the hill. It is interesting to note the weights to be carried by the horses left in the Wellington Stakes: Eulalie 8.10, Silvermine 8.6, Paganelli 8.6, Gascony 8.6, Staghunter 7.12, Childsplay 7.9, Prince Humphrey 7.8 and Silverpaper 6.12. This will in all probability comprise the field on Saturday week. Staghunter and Childsplay are the only two that have earned the full penalty of 141 b.