BRITISH STABLES AND FOREIGN METHODS. 529 



a vast amount of good in compelling races to be run right through, instead of 

 crawling at the start and hurrying home from the distance. 



Their position in the saddle, too, was by no means the novelty many seemed to 

 imagine. The fact that it had been seen before on the English Turf, and had 

 never become universal, is one of the strongest arguments against its permanent 

 effectiveness. No one cared to copy Tommy Lye, who was so small that as he sat 

 forward along his horse's neck, you could only see a little bit of his back during a 

 race. He was often successful, but when he lost, the public blamed his "awkward 

 style." Then, again, only forty-six years ago, Mr. Ten Broeck brought over an 

 American jockey called Tankersley, whose name was the same as that horse of 

 Lord Fitzwilliam's which beat Cockfighter over a four-mile course at Doncaster in 

 1801. This imported lad had the mount for the Cesarewitch in 1857, on the 

 American-bred four-year-old Prioress, who had escaped, in the Goodwood Cup, the 

 scrimmage which brought down Gunboat, Arsenal, Kestrel, and Gemma di Vergy. 

 In a field of thirty-four, Prioress, carrying 6st. gib., started for the Cesarewitch 

 an absolute outsider at 100 to i. But she made a dead-heat of it with El Hakim 

 and Queen Bess, the last ridden by Jimmy Grimshaw at 4st. lolb. In the run-off 

 Mr. Ten Broeck discarded Tankersley, whose "American seat" was laughed at, 

 and put up George Fordham, and "the Demon" won amidst great cheering by 

 a length and a half. In the Cambridgeshire Fordham won with Odd Trick, and 

 Tankersley on Prioress was unplaced. Tankersley then went home and George 

 Fordham rode for Mr. Ten Broeck, and many people think that the English 

 jockey practised (and sometimes used) the crouching position afterwards. But 

 he did not use it with such excessively short stirrup-leathers, and never without 

 being able to change it whenever he thought necessary. Fred Archer, too, had 

 a wonderfully effective way of suddenly throwing his weight forward (and with 

 it his body and head) in the last couple of strides. But he knew better than 

 to keep his weight there all the time. 



Careful experiments have been made as to this question of the incidence 

 of weight in different styles. A saddled horse was first weighed alone, and 

 turned the scale at i,oo5lbs. Placed with its fore feet on the scale and its 

 hind feet on the ground, the animal registered 58olbs., or yslbs. more than 

 half its weight, the difference being caused by the head and neck. While the 

 horse remained in this position, a lad weighing i3olbs. was placed in the saddle, 

 and the scale showed an increase of 62lbs., or less than half the lad's weight. 



VOL. III. K 



