Mr. John Fergusson 



matter, with the result that they arrived at the conclusion 

 that they could come to no other decision but which had been 

 given in the first instance. 



In point of fact, on being consulted before the race by the 

 owner, the stewards assured him that Royal Blaze stood in 

 no danger of disqualification, and that the horse could be run 

 without the slightest fear. 



Whatever the result might have been, it does not detract 

 in the least from the fine jockeyship displayed by Captain 

 Denny, who certainly never rode a better race in his life. 



Mr. JOHN FERGUSSON 



Of our cross-country riders in recent years, few, if any, have 

 had a more successful career than the accomplished horseman 

 who forms the subject of this chapter. 



Of Scottish descent, as implied by his name, "Jock" Fer- 

 gusson, as he is familiarly called, rode his first winner in 1886, 

 when only sixteen years of age, after which he rode repeatedly 

 in Scotland with more or less success until 1890, in which year 

 he became associated with the late Mr. C. J. Cunningham, for 

 whose stable he invariably rode until that gentleman's death in 

 1898. During the whole of that period he was, on several 

 occasions, at the head of the Gentlemen Riders' list with a 

 record of over fifty winning mounts, many of them being on 

 such well-known horses as King Charles, Keilson, Kale, Annally, 

 and Sir Hubert. 



In 1898 Mr. Fergusson became the racing manager of 

 Colonel W. Hall Walker's horses, a position he still holds ; and 



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