CHAPTER XVI 



FOUL RIDING AND FOUL PLAY 



There were one or two glaring cases of foul riding not 

 long since both on the English and Continental Turf 

 which provoked the parrot cry that racing was going to the 

 dogs — that the morals of the Turf were rotten and so forth. 

 Of course, like everything else, the Turf is not perfect, but 

 it is much better than it used to be. Let me give a few 

 instances of what foul riding was in " the good old days " 

 of which so much rubbish is written. 



In the days when the York Summer Meeting was one of 

 the greatest events of the year, Mr Childers's brown mare 

 Duchess, ridden by Robert Hesselteine, ran a very severe 

 and punishing race for the Gold Cup with Mr Pierson's brown 

 horse Foxhunter, ridden by Stephen Jefferson. Those 

 were times when jostling and cannoning were regarded as 

 perfectly legitimate means of besting a rival. On this 

 occasion Hesselteine bored Foxhunter nearly into the cords 

 for the greater part of the journey, and Duchess was thus 

 enabled to gain the judge's verdict by a length. But no 

 sooner had Hesselteine pulled up than Jefferson rode 

 alongside of him and struck him across the face with his 

 whip. Hesselteine returned the compliment, and they cut 

 away at one another amidst the cheers of the bystanders, 

 till the blood was streaming down their faces. When both 

 were exhausted, the owner of Foxhunter claimed the race 

 on the ground that his horse had been deliberately run 

 up against the cords by Duchess's jockey. A committee 

 of "tryers" was empanelled to consider the objection, and, 

 after mature deliberation, awarded the race to Foxhunter. 



Strong words were exchanged between the two owners, 

 which must infallibly have ended in a duel had not the 



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