CHAPTER VIII 

 TRAINERS, TRAINING GROUNDS, AND JOCKEYS 



Smartness of modern trainers — Their various duties — " Placing" — Price of train- 

 ing — Trainer's knowledge as to his horse's chance of winning — Stable lads — 

 Apprentices — Jockeys — Comparison of old-time with present jockeys — Brains 

 necessary — As advisers to stable — Cupidity and its results — Earnings — Hand- 

 some retainers — Newmarket as a training quarter — Good and bad years — 

 Typical good year — Reasons why owners train at Newmarket — Notable New- 

 market trainers — American trainers at Newmarket — Their wonderful successes 

 — "Doping" — Royal Flush — Gentlemen trainers — Mr. George Lambton — 

 Captain Beatty — Kingsclere — John Porter's winnings in stake money — The 

 Cannons — Danebury — Garlogs — Berkshire and Wiltshire trainers — Sam 

 Darling's classic successes — Kilcock — Galtee More — W. Robinson's handicap 

 successes — The Taylors of Manton — Dorsetshire trainers — Sir Charles Nugent 

 — Mr. George Thursby — Sussex stables — Epsom trainers — The Midlands — 

 Exton Park — Plednesford — Stanton — Royston — Thetford — Mr. Musker's suc- 

 cesses with two-year-olds — Northern and Southern rivalry — Elsey of Baumber 

 — Yorkshire training grounds — Malton — William I 'Anson — His successes — 

 Self-Sacrifice — Her St. Leger trial — Chittabob — I'Anson's purchases of platers 

 — The best jockeys of the day — As good as their predecessors — Their chief 

 faults — The lesson of Sloan — The American seat — Owners and American 

 jockeys. 



THE importance of the part which the trainer plays in 

 racing can scarcely be over-estimated, and if there be 

 any who think that the position he now holds contrasts too 

 strongly with what it was in the time of our racing fore- 

 runners, they will do well to pause and consider how different 

 are the responsibilities, and how much more exacting in 

 many ways are the demands of the day. From one point 

 of view one could divide the trainers into two divisions, those 

 that train at Newmarket forming one of them. It is easy 

 to realise that where so many reside within short distances 

 of one another rivalry in other matters than the training of 



217 



