266 The Life of Fred Archer 
John leased Kendal to him for three years at £300 a 
year, giving him the option of buying the horse during that 
period for £1,200. Kendal's fee was twenty-five guineas. 
Lord Wolverton died before the lease had run its course, and 
Lady Wolverton asked John if he would mind taking the horse 
back. He agreed to do so, and sold him to Mr. John Gubbins 
for £3,000. 
At the Newmarket First October Meeting Ormonde won 
the Great Foal Stakes, beating his stable companions White- 
friar and Mephisto. The same week he walked over for the 
Newmarket St. Leger. A fortnight later, with odds of 100 
to I laid on him, he won the Champion Stakes from two 
opponents, and at the Houghton Meeting he won the Fall 
Handicap in a canter by eight lengths, carrying 9 stone 2lb., and 
giving 2 stone each to Mephisto and Theodore. Having regard 
to what Mephisto had done, this was a wonderful performance. 
The following day Ormonde walked over for the Private 
Sweepstakes of £1,000 each, half forfeit. Lord Hastings paying 
forfeit for Melton and Peck for The Bard. Melton (four years 
old) and Ormonde were to carry 8 stone lolb. each and The 
Bard 8 stone. The owners of Melton and The Bard were not 
anxious that Ormonde should have the opportunity of showing 
what he could do with their horses. He would have made a 
rare example of them. This was the last time Archer was 
on Ormonde's back. 
It is of interest to interpolate here the opinion of one of 
the very greatest of all trainers on Archer, and Porter wrote : 
" Archer was an extremely ' brainy ' jockey, but not so 
finished a horseman as Fordham. He developed a style of 
his own. His body was short and his legs long, and he used 
the latter as if they were a pair of tongs gripping a horse's 
body. As a rule he rode with a slack rein, and sometimes at 
the finish of a race was half-way up the horse's neck. His 
success was largely due to his wonderful energy, his deter- 
mination, and his pluck. 
