242 RACING. 



business, in being always at the post in time to secure the best 

 berth, and in resolute riding when the race necessitates it, 

 he has never had an equal upon the British Turf. The place 

 which he has now occupied for many years at the head and 

 not only at the head, but facile princeps of his rivals attests 

 his extraordinary industry and merits, and although his length 

 of limb and increase of weight forbid the supposition that he 

 will be able to go to scale for as many years as Frank Buckle, 

 Tommy Lye, Nat, Sim Templeman, Bill Scott, John Osborne, 

 George Fordham and James Goater, he has already inscribed 

 his name so deeply upon the annals of Turf history in his time 

 that, in all probability, the epoch through which we are now 

 passing will hereafter be known as the Archer era. Of all the 

 jockeys now in possession of a licence, Archer would have been 

 most certain to win commendation from that most censorious 

 and difficile of judges, the late Squire Thornhill of Riddlesworth. 



Among Archer's contemporaries, Tom Cannon and C. Wood 

 are perhaps the most conspicuous, the former for exquisite hands 

 nnd general judgment, the latter for decision in riding a race. 

 There are, however, contests and notably the two St. Legers 

 in which he rode Lord Clifden and Apology, and the Two 

 Thousand in which he rode Prince Charlie where the skill 

 and strict attention to orders displayed by John Osborne merit 

 the highest praise. Although blessed with little luck, Fred 

 Webb is surpassed in the determination of his finish by none 

 of his contemporaries, and his triumph upon Florence over 

 such a horse as Bendigo, and such a rider as Jem Snowden, for 

 the Cambridgeshire of 1884, was perhaps the brightest example 

 of his style. The strong seat and resolute courage of Custance 

 were seen to great advantage when he rode the insubordinate 

 Broomielaw for the Chesterfield Cup at Goodwood ; and, speak- 

 ing summarily, the racing men of to-day may boast that half a 

 dozen living jockeys are equal we do not think them superior 

 to the 'brilliant quartet' selected by 'The Druid' in the last 

 generation as primi inter pares. 



It cannot, however, be denied that the times through which 



