The Life of Fred Archer 165 
could not make it up again. No one with an ounce of sense 
would ever for a moment suspect Fred Archer of throwing 
away a Derby, or any other race, if he could help it. He was too 
fond of winning, and it was his ambition to be always at the 
head of the jockey list. No man who ever threw his leg across 
a horse rode with a greater determination to win if possible 
than Fred Archer. ... St. Simon first appeared at Goodwood 
in 1883, when he won the Halnaker Stakes and Maiden 
Plate easy. 
" I have a shoe of St. Simon's, given me by Mr. Ernest Day, 
who brought Carbine over from Australia. . . . 
" Wood and Archer were once supposed to be the head of 
a jockey ring. I do not believe it for a moment. Charles 
Wood is alive and, I am glad to say, well, and as good a jockey 
as ever one need wish to see he was in those days. 
" He can speak for himself, and I am sure would bear me 
out when I say that neither he nor Fred Archer ever had any- 
thing to do with a jockey ring if there was one. . . . 
" Archer was indignant at such accusations, and well he 
might be. The public — I mean the public who back horses — 
are not altogether fools, and they would not have stuck to 
Archer as they did if they were not perfectly certain that he 
rode to win. It is ridiculous to suppose for a moment that the 
jockeys at the head of their profession would do such a thing. 
Probably there were jockeys who backed Archer's and Charlie 
Wood's mounts, because they were perfectly certain they would 
beat their own. . . . The idea of leading jockeys pulling horses 
on their own account is laughable. 
" The Eagle Farm Racing Club has the big meeting of the 
Queensland Turf Club. It cast a gloom over the gathering 
when one heard whispers of ' Archer's dead.' ' Archer's shot 
himself.' ' Poor Fred ! ' We were 15,000 miles away, and yet 
Archer's death caused quite a sensation. There were men, like 
myself, who had seen him ride. One or two of us had known 
him, and we talked over the sadness utterly regardless of 
