172 A PHENOMENAL JOCKEY 



ing and unwilling alike. Delicate mouth-touching is the 

 rarest of the jockey's arts; almost every jockey here 

 " rides twice as fast as his horse is going." 



Waiting races are not run in America. Eunning is 

 made from start to finish in the majority of cases. But 

 when a race is run between a few good jockeys, this rule 

 is not always followed. There has as yet been no phe- 

 nomenal jockey produced in the States; but it may 

 fairly be claimed that our best jockeys come well up in 

 the second rank. Do not misunderstand this phrase. 

 Among great captains only Alexander, Caesar, Hannibal, 

 Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick, and Napoleon are placed 

 by the best critics in the first rank ; such men as Philip, 

 Pompey, Turenne, Marlborough, Prince Eugene, Welling- 

 ton, Lee, and Yon Moltke come only in the second rank, 

 which, after all, is good enough for any one but a demigod. 

 That the common jockey here is less good than in Eng- 

 land is simply due to the fact that there he serves at least 

 a species of apprenticeship, while here he springs full- 

 armed from his own brain. 



Please note that I am not undertaking to criticise the 

 riding of our better jockeys ; I have seen some beautiful 

 work at home. I purposely use no names, lest some 

 should think me partial or unsound you see I am wise 

 in my generation and refer only to individuals who are 

 now translated. Nor am I an habitue of the race-track ; I 

 do not consider my opinion the ultima thule on this sub- 

 ject, as I might on well, never mind now. But that we 

 have not had a man who could, by his profession alone, 

 before he had got within a distance of middle life, accu- 

 mulate a fortune of over a million dollars, is clear; yet 

 Archer did it. With our running-horses we have done 

 great things ; our American records are not to be ques- 

 tioned, and we need not be ashamed of our records in 



