JOHNNY REIFF'S START 



take chances, and for his years was a rare good judge 

 of form. It was a great pity when he quitted race 

 riding. 



Johnny Reiff was quite a little kid when he came 

 over with his brother. He couldn't have weighed more 

 than 4 st. 6 lbs., being then about thirteen years old. 

 He was such an infant that some of the jockeys used 

 to complain about his being allowed to ride ; they were 

 afraid of hurting him. Nevertheless he kept on, and 

 with the mounts he got rode twenty-seven winners in 

 1899, and a hundred and twenty-four in 1900 — making 

 him third to Lester Reiff and Sam Loates. 



Soon after he arrived in England I went out to see 

 him at Wishard's place near Newmarket and found 

 him in his knickerbockers by the porch of the house 

 playing with some kittens. He seemed such a baby, 

 and I watched him before I took one or two of them 

 from him, for I share with him the immense love for 

 cats. Johnny liked to hear me talk and used to ask 

 me different things, which I told him freely, but the kid 

 had already any number of ideas of his own, was a born 

 rider and had developed it with his own intelligence. 

 \A^iat I mean to say by " born " is not going against 

 what I have said previously about heredity, but 

 Johnny had the instinct for jockeyship, and from 

 every gallop and race he rode in he seemed to learn 

 something. Wishard was very proud of him. He 

 was proud of Lester too, especially when the latter 

 began to show what he could do. Of course Johnny 

 moulded himself a little on what his brother had 

 changed to. Yes indeed, Lester was without an equal 

 during those two or three years. 



It was in 1899 that I cabled over to J. H. Martin to 

 come to England. I told " Skeets " I thought he would 

 do very well as he had ridden for me over there, and he 



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