



FRANC1S BUCKLE AND SOME OTHER FAMOUS RIDERS. 



399 



credit, but they can claim twelve Derbys and two victories in the Oaks, of which 

 1796 was the " double event." Bill, nephew to Sam, who rocle for Lord Foley and 

 the Prince of Wales, was a bit of a miser, as you seem to see in his face, and 

 preferred saving money to either cock-fighting or coursing, and selling a horse to 

 anything else. He loved a winning mount, whether it was a race or a trial, and 

 consequently was not of as much use to the Exeter stable as he might have been, 

 but his reputation stood very high, in spite of his never being able to outride Jem 

 Robinson. He was only a. year senior to Sam Chifney, but he died nearly nineteen 

 years before him, when trainer to Lord Litchfielcl, the very year before Elis won the 

 Leger. His last Derby was on Blucher in 1814, and he showed off the horse to the 

 Field-Marshal at Newmarket next summer. Though only in the second class, it 

 will never be forgotten that it was he who was picked with Thomas Goodison to ride 

 Filho da Puta and Sir Joshua in their great match in 1816, out of all the Northern 

 and Southern jockeys of their time. Thomas was the son of the great Dick, and was 

 put up instead of John Jackson in this match, for which Jackson was only consoled 

 by the news that the substitute had been beaten by a head. But Goodison was 

 worth the place ; he was especially liked by the Duke of York, and he rode more 

 winners than any one else for the Duke of Grafton. He won the Derby in 1809, 

 1813 (with the Oaks as well), and in 1815 he did the double event again, being split 

 by Sam Barnard and Bill Arnull in the interval. His next Derby was not till 1822, 

 the year before he won his first St. Leger. He was a very safe rider, and a good 

 judge of pace. 



Within a few months of Goodison, died another Yorkshire-bred jockey, William 

 Clift, the only jockey who ever enjoyed three pensions at the end of his life. One 

 came from Lord Fitzwilliam, with whose horses he succeeded Peirse and Jackson. 

 He was honest, but rough in speech and manner, and punished his horses severely. 

 His endurance both in the saddle and out of it was a by word, and in the winter he 

 used to ride relays of horses from Liverpool to London with the results of the Irish 

 Lottery. He won the Derby in 1793, 1800, 1803, 1810 (with the St. Leger, which he 

 also captured three years before), and lastly in 1819. He also had two Oaks' winners 

 in 1804 and 1808. 



Of all the Northern jockeys in the first decade of that century, Shepherd, Jackson, 

 Peirse, and Ben Smith had the best of the mounts, and Jackson's name in the 

 St. Leger list goes back as far as 1791, and forward to 1822, with six victories 

 between, a record that only Bill Scott has beaten in the great Doncaster race. 



