462 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



this plan, but it was invariably proved by subsequent 

 running that when ' Johnnie ' was beaten in a long run 

 home he had got everything out of his mount ; it was 

 invariably the horse's best form when it would look to 

 the spectators that he had come too late. He used to 

 do it by squeezing his horses with his knees ; he would 

 nip a horse nearly in two. He was a wonderfully 

 powerful horseman, and once he had won his race on 

 a horse he very seldom lost it. Only on rare occasions 

 would John use whip or spur, rather depending on his 

 head or his hands. You never saw him fluttered when 

 it was getting a 'near thing.' No, he was quite the 

 reverse of a ' legs and wings ' jockey. As a horseman 

 in classic races there was never John Osborne's 

 superior, and on two-year-olds he was a good man. 

 But, of course, of what you call ' sprint ' races I take no 

 notice at all in this comparison. One of his main 

 characteristics was his great strength on a horse which 

 he rode in its stride, always giving it a fair chance. 

 Never anxious to take a horse off its legs at the start, 

 Old John's idea, I fancy, was to always let him get 

 settled down in his stride, and then to ride him as 

 he felt him. That, in my opinion, is the proper way to 

 ride a horse. In judging of jockeyship, you never ought 

 to found your opinion on short races whip and spur 

 from the fall of the flag, as Jimmy Grimshaw used to 

 win his races. Jim Snowden and John Osborne rode 

 in very similar fashion. Now, George Fordham's riding 

 was totally different from both of them. No jockey 

 that ever I knew had lighter hand than Fordham. He 

 had a marvellous knack with horses that no jockey 

 except himself ever had, I should think. Snowden and 

 John Osborne were very resolute on their horses, while 

 old Fordham was a man to sit and nurse 'em; yet he 



