24 THE TURF 



very little afterwards, his whip and spur having taken 

 all the heart out of them. At the same time, if he 

 could persuade a horse instead of coercing him, he 

 would do so. On one occasion at Sandown, in a five 

 furlong race, before the distance had been half 

 covered he leant forward and patted the neck of his 

 horse ; his quick eye had already assured him, even 

 at that early point of the struggle, that he had nothing 

 to fear from any of his opponents. His method of 

 sitting back, and as it were driving his horse before 

 him, was in striking contrast to that of his great rival, 

 George Fordham, who had anything but a graceful 

 seat upon a horse and was a man of little education 

 and general knowledge, but whose appreciation 

 of the delicacies of his profession was simply 

 phenomenal. It may be doubted whether any one 

 who ever lived understood horses and the art of 

 race riding more thoroughly. (The value of a 

 jockey's services, it may be incidentally remarked, has 

 vastly increased of late years. It is not long since for 

 the first call on his services Fordham received 

 ^loo a year.) In contrast again to Fordham was his 

 friend, Tom Cannon, who to the other requisites of 

 perfect jockeyship added extraordinary grace. For 

 George Fordham, Cannon had the warmest admiration, 

 declaring that all he knew he learnt from his colleague 

 — an expression, however, which may be taken as not 

 a little exaggerated, for he continually profited by his 

 own experiences and singularly astute observation. 



