-^ Ascot Race Course 



2,516 winners, and he included among his victories, all the 

 great races, with the exception or the St. Leger. He 

 won the French Derby twice, the Grand Prix three times, 

 and the French Oaks once. Between the years 1867 

 and 1875 he won the Ascot Gold Cup four times, and the 

 Royal Hunt Cup twice ; and in 1867 won the Alexandra 

 Plate on Lecturer. The title of " Demon " was popularly 

 bestowed upon him, on account of his multitudinous 

 successes. Fordham was a great favourite with the racing 

 public, and his modesty and good nature silenced the jealousy 

 of his fellow jockeys. He died on October 12th, 1887, 

 in his fifty-first year, from a decline, the fatal effects of 

 which were precipitated by the exacting demands which 

 his professional engagements made upon his strength. He 

 was buried in St. Laurence Churchyard, Upton, in the 

 presence of the largest assembly that had ever witnessed 

 the obsequies of a popular jockey. 



Thomas Challoner was born at Manchester in 1839. 

 While still a boy he had the good fortune to be received 

 into the stables at Ashgill, where he enjoyed the incalculable 

 advantage of John Osborne's counsel and instruction. He 

 appeared in public at the age of fifteen, and rode his first 

 winning race at Liverpool in 1855 on Mr. Buckley's Sister 

 to Mrs. Rigby. His first year's racing was represented by 

 the unusually brilliant record of sixteen successes out of 

 fifty-three mounts. In 1858 he carried off the Chesterfield 

 Cup at Goodwood for Mr. Merry, and the Royal Hunt 

 Cup at Ascot on Hesperithusa. His ability was now 

 generally acknowledged; and in 1861, at Doncaster, on 

 Caller Ou, he obtained a remarkable victory in the St. Leger 

 over Luke Snowden on Kettledrum, the odds against the 



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