12 Preface 
Royal Hunt Cup by three-quarters of a length from Sword 
Dance after Peter had stopped to kick at the foot of the hill, 
and thereby lost lengths, which it seemed impossible he could 
make up. 
Archer was a man with faults — who of us has not got 
them ? — but take him all round, he was a splendid fellow. 
One of the secrets of his great success as a jockey — and he 
certainly never had a superior — was the strictest attention to 
business in every detail, added to keen observation, as a guide 
to future events, of what other horses besides his own mounts 
were doing in races. 
I know no more notable instance of this than Mr. Everitt's 
Offenheit, a half-brother to that brilliant mare, GeheimnisS' 
The colt, who, when backward, was brought out first for the 
Windsor Castle Stakes at Ascot in 1885, was entrusted to John 
Watts, a very excellent jockey, and finished third for the race, 
won by Fullerton, odds of 75 to 20 being laid on Archer's 
mount. Storm Light, in a field of eight. 
Watts informed the owner afterwards that his mount only 
failed because he was not quite fit, and Mr. Everitt, who 
asked Archer what he really thought of Offenheit, was told by 
him, " Not a bad sort, but a sure non-stayer," and this he 
proved himself to be. 
Added to these powers of observation Archer had a keen, 
intelligent brain and iron nerve which enabled him to hug the 
rails round such dangerous descents as Tattenham Corner 
or the hill at Brighton without fear, and thereby win many a 
race which a less intrepid rider would have failed to do. He 
showed the most wonderful courage when riding, although 
otherwise he was a very highly-strung man. This was pro- 
bably brought about by excessive wasting, which naturally 
affected his nerves, and also by the terrible amount of strong 
medicine which he was constantly taking to get off a pound 
or half a pound in weight when there was really nothing to 
take off, for he was a mere bag of skin and bones, and Dr. 
