JOCKEYS. 313 



excellent jockey's favour that the tedious, pain- 

 ful, and dangerous sweating, which is the bane 

 of so many riders' existence, is avoided, as Ford- 

 ham can without trouble ride 7st. 81bs. Like 

 many other admirable horsemen, Fordham is far 

 from being a model of grace and elegance in the 

 saddle. He has indeed a very ungainly method 

 of hunching up his shoulders as he sits on his 

 saddle, but this detracts nothing from the credit 

 that must be given to him, for possessing nearly 

 all the requisites of a first-class jockey. He is 

 a remarkable judge of pace ; knows not only 

 what his own horse is doing, but can tell what 

 his opponents are doing likewise ; and possesses 

 that gift of patience which is one of the chief 

 necessities for a great jockey. Constant race- 

 goers would find it hard to name two occasions 

 on which Fordham has lost his temper with his 

 horse, though one occasion might be named — 

 the July Cup at Newmarket. Fordham was on 

 Peter, Archer on Charibert, and the former 

 started favourite ; but no persuasion could make 

 the ill-tempered son of Hermit run up to his 

 bit, and the jockey had not quite finished his 

 persuasion when the judge's box was passed, 

 three lengths behind Charibert. That Peter 

 was a terribly ugly animal to manage is obvious, 

 however, and no one knows better than this 



