The Life of a Great Sportsman 



Whilst, as I have already mentioned, there are thousands of 

 young horsemen who set not the slightest value upon their 

 necks — men who would ride at a house if it came in their way 

 — yet owing to this very recklessness will never make good 

 horsemen in the strict sense of the word. And that is where 

 the "Cat" — to give him the name Mr. Richardson was 

 popularly known by — " came in," as the saying is ; for not only 

 did he possess the heart of a lion, but also every other quality 

 which goes to make the perfect horseman. A proof of which 

 — if any were wanting — being his artistic riding on the flat ; the 

 few races he won under these conditions being generally voted, 

 even by the professional (flat race) jockeys he competed 

 against, perfect masterpieces of race riding, which they them- 

 selves could not have bettered. 



His superiority in this respect is not hard to explain. 

 11 Thorough " in everything he undertook, directly the steeple- 

 chase season was at an end he would repair to his favourite 

 Newmarket, and there, under the friendly guidance of Joe 

 Cannon and other famous trainers, would spend his mornings 

 taking part in five or six furlong gallops, riding the older horse 

 against the two-year olds, and assiduously practising the art of 

 getting quickly off. 



I have frequently heard him say that had he not ridden 

 over short courses every day during the recess, he never would 

 have won the two welter races at Epsom, one at the spring- 

 meeting on Lincoln, belonging to a worthy bookmaker, 

 familiarly known as " Nosey " Taylor, and the other at the 

 summer meeting, on the day after the Derby, when on Bicker- 

 staffe, the property of the then Lord Lonsdale, he beat 

 seventeen others in the " Six Furlong Welter," in a style which 

 provoked general admiration. What made the task more 

 difficult for an amateur was that in those days there were no 



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