390 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



to their ears, for no jockey has ever enjoyed such an unblemished reputation alike 

 for horsemanship and morals. After his double victory on Emilius and Zinc, 

 the contemporary chronicler burst into poetry in fine style, exclaiming : 



" Though long by the beaux reduced to disgrace, 

 The Buckle's the gem and the pride of the race ; 

 For lo ! the bold jockey's neat dexterous strokes 

 Have crowned him the conqueror of Derby and Oaks. 

 When backed by this rider's consummate address, 

 The high-mettled racer feels sure of success. 

 Eclipse was the horse of all horses that ran, 

 But whate'er be our horse now, Frank Buckle's the man. 

 Oh ! where is the match for a treasure so rare ? 

 Look round the wide world and ye'll ne'er find a pair ; 

 For trained to the Turf, he stands quite alone, 

 And a. pair of such Buckles never was known." 



He won the Oaks nine times, the Derby five times, two St. Legers, and "all the 

 good things at Newmarket," as he wrote on the whip he sent to Germany (p. 304). 

 " The Governor," as his Newmarket friends called him, had actually earned the 

 honour of being placed in the incorruptible trio of " the only three inflexibly honest 

 jockeys" Mr. John Gully had ever known, and this gentleman's experience was as 

 wide as it was varied. When it came to a fine point between tired horses after a 

 long gallop, it was usually " 6 to 4 on Old Frank " to the very end of his career, and 

 very few were the jockeys who, as solemn old John Day was always proud of saying 

 of himself, could " get over Buckle " in a finish at Newmarket. Man and boy, he 

 had ridden for over fifty years before his spotless and honourable career came to a 

 close within three months of his last race, and to the end of his life he thought Lord 

 Grosvenor's Violante the best animal he ever rode. His skill and nerve remained, un- 

 daunted to the end, and when he weighed in for the last time on Mr. Udhy's 

 Conservator he only drew 8st. ;lb., the top weight in the race of Saturday, 

 November 6, 1831, at Newmarket. 



No one was his peer for endurance in the saddle, at that time, save, perhaps, Sir 

 Tatton Sykes and Squire Osbaldeston ; and it is not a little curious that the latter 

 should have been finishing his great 2OO-mile match against time on one side of the 

 Ditch, while Buckle was riding his last race on the other. " The Pocket Hercules," 

 as game as ever, trotted off on his cob, as soon as he had weighed in, with his saddle 

 strapped round his coat, to give " the Squire " a cheer as he finished on Trail by, and 

 very nearly accepted a challenge "to ride for twenty-five days or till either of them 

 dropped." The card of that Houghton Meeting is before me, and as the information 



