385 S TEEPLE- CHA SING. 



* Riding the Race,' his habit of looking thoroughly over any 

 course where he was going to ride. Thus he noted the good 

 ground, and never failed to take advantage of it. Like so very 

 many other riders, the great majority, it may be said, Mr. 

 Brockton, if he had a weakness, was incHned to come rather 

 too soon in hurdle-races and on the flat. 



In the list of gentlemen-riders who win races — no small 

 test of capacity— the Hon. George Lambton, Mr. H. Owen, 

 Captains E. R. Owen and Lee Barber, and Mr. C. J. Cunning- 

 ham were included when the last edition of this work went to 

 the press. 



Mr. J. C. Dormer was then coming to the front, and 

 rapidly developed into a horseman of the first rank. The secret 

 of his success was diligent practice, natural aptitude being of 

 course understood. Mr. Dormer lived near Mr. Arthur Yates' 

 training-ground, and rode there, when not at public meetings, 

 morning after morning with the regularity of the professional 

 jockeys attached to the establishment. Proficiency was the 

 result, and in the season of 189 1-2 he headed the list of gen- 

 tlemen riders with a most creditable proportion of wins to 

 mounts. His second in the Grand National of 1892 on 

 Cloister has been mentioned. Shortly afterwards, however, 

 while riding an awkward mare named Miss Chippendale for the 

 Duke of Hamilton in the Mammoth Hunters' Steeple-chase at 

 Sandown Park, she fell very heavily at one of the fences, and 

 Mr. Dormer was thrown violently to the ground. Most unhap- 

 pily his eye struck against a stone or twig on the ground, and 

 was entirely destroyed. This most unfortunate accident ended 

 the career of one of the best amateur horsemen the modern 

 turf has seen. 



Although it may be true that some twelve or fifteen years 

 since there was a larger proportion of really good gentlemen- 

 riders than exists at the present date — 1893 — some of the best 

 now in active practice compare by no means unfavourably with 

 the best of their predecessors. Two that may be mentioned 

 are ex-soldiers, Captain P. W. Bewicke and Mr. F. B. Atkinson, 



