TRAINERS AND JOCKEYS 261 



thusiastic scene has ever been witnessed on a racecourse 

 than on the occasion of a match at Gatwick (it was for but 

 ;^ioo a side), in which Sam got the best of Sloan by a neck. 

 This was the forerunner of many similar finishes, though it 

 has not always been Loates who has come off best. How- 

 ever clever the jockey, he cannot win without the horse ; 

 which remark of course applies to American and English 

 jockeys alike. 



Allsopp, Rickaby, and T. Weldon are jockeys who ride 

 very well. Allsopp is famous for his quick beginnings, 

 and has ridden a Derby winner in Sir Hugo, but he is not 

 too strong. With the inside position in a short-distance 

 race on a round course like Northampton and Chester 

 he is always very dangerous, but in 1900 he had far fewer 

 mounts than formerly, and appeared to have lost much 

 of his form. Rickaby, who has all Lord Durham's riding, 

 scales some pounds over 8 st, and is a very determined 

 horseman. He has not quite the polished style of some of 

 the others, but his average is generally a good one, and he 

 shines on a circular course, where he rides as if there were 

 no such things as posts at the turns. Weldon rides more in 

 the North and Midlands than at Newmarket, Epsom, or 

 Ascot, and lately he has been very successful with the horses 

 trained in Elsey's stable. He is distinctly above the average, 

 and a strong finisher, who in style reminds one of the late 

 Fred Archer. Finlay, who has been more associated with 

 Malton than Newmarket — though he now rides more in the 

 South than formerly — is fair second class, as is another 

 Northern jockey, Seth Chandley. W. Bradford, who as an ap- 

 prentice was the best horse in the stable of Tom Jennings, jun., 

 and who won the Oaks on Amiable, Limasol, and Airs and 

 Graces, and the One Thousand Guineas on Amiable, has 

 gone up in weight, and is practically out of the running. 

 For the jockey who puts on weight chances of distinction 

 do not often present themselves, and a fine horseman who 

 suffers under this disadvantage is F, Pratt, nephew of the 

 late Fred Archer, who finds it impossible to ride under 9 st. 



Whether the English Turf needed a fillip or not, it cer- 

 tainly got it at the instance of the American jockeys, who 



