FOUL RIDING AND FOUL PLAY 127 



friends of both parties interfered and suggested that the 

 heat should be run again. It was run, and Duchess won 

 by a clear length. But so far was the result from satisfy- 

 ing either owner that both claimed the prize : the owner of 

 Duchess, on the ground that his mare had won the deciding 

 heat ; the owner of Foxhunter, on the ground that Duchess, 

 having once been disqualified by the "tryers," was not 

 entitled to run again. There were mutual charges of foul 

 riding and foul play ; the jockeys had another set-to, this 

 time on foot, which ended in the discomfiture of Hesselteine ; 

 whilst a challenge passed between the owners, with the 

 result that the next morning Mr Pierson got a pistol-bullet 

 in the thigh, which lamed him for life. 



A similar incident happened in the case of the two famous 

 jockeys Sam Chiffney the elder and Dick Goodisson. Each 

 accused the other of deliberate jostling in a race. From 

 words they came to blows, and slashed at one another with 

 their whips. But as nothing but a fight would let out the 

 bad blood between them, they agreed to have it out with fists 

 for a stake of 25 guineas a side, according to the rules 

 of the Prize Ring. Both went into training under the 

 ablest pugilists of the day, and in due course faced one 

 another inside a roped ring before a select aristocratic 

 assembly in a room in the Duke of Oueensberry's house at 

 Newmarket. The battle was long and desperate. Both 

 were game to the backbone, and it was only after an hour 

 of fierce and furious fighting that Goodisson's superior 

 stamina gave him the victory. The fight, however, had 

 the desired effect : it let the bad blood out of both men. 

 From that time forward they were good friends, and their 

 rivalry in the saddle was manly and generous. 



Even in far later days there was a recklessness and 

 ferocity tolerated in racing which would raise a storm of in- 

 dignation nowadays. Take, as an example, the great match 

 between Lord Kennedy and Captain Ross, Lord Kennedy 

 backed Captain Douglas on Radical against Captain 

 Ross on Clinker over four miles of Leicestershire hunting 

 country for ;^iooo a side. "The night before the race," 

 says Captain Ross, " Lord Kennedy wrote me a note, 

 stating that he wished very much to see me about an 



