316 EACECOUESE AND COVEET SIDE. 



keep tlie best horsemen from the saddle when 

 they have become masters of their difficult craft, 

 applies here with much appositeness. Archer's 

 length of leg is a great assistance to him, and 

 gives him remarkable power in the saddle ; he 

 seems sometimes, as it were, to sit back and 

 drive his horse before him. It is a curious, 

 and, under certain conditions, an extremely 

 agreeable sight to watch the popular jockey 

 coming up towards the judge's box, level, per- 

 haps, with the leading horses, or it may be a 

 little behind them. At that precise moment 

 when the effort should be made, Archer's mount 

 seems gradually to forge ahead] and steal to the 

 front ; a glance over his shoulder, which he can 

 give without disturbing his seat in the saddle 

 as shorter riders appear to do, shows him the 

 state of the case as regards the other horses, 

 and he either rides his animal with vigorous 

 severity, or, if this be not necessary, maintains 

 • — if possible — a sufficient advantage to the end. 

 Nothing is more scorned on the racecourse than 

 to see a rider who has a lead of some lengths, 

 and has evidently won the race, finishing des- 

 perately when there is nothing to finish against 

 — an example of which was afforded by the rider 

 of the famous Hungarian mare Kincsem, who 

 won the Goodwood Cup some few years ago. 



