HOW THE AMERICANS LEARNED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 40

HOW THE AMERICANS LEARNED.

Mr J. S. Macdonald, of Newmarket, contributes to the public press: an interesting lette>- on the jockey qtiestion. The secret of the American succeps, he says, has always been the intense desire to improve upon old methods, and the nervous energy of the foremost sportsmen in America has been wholly devoted to the improvement of their horses, ancl to the education of their trainers and 'jockeys up to the highest standard of excellence. All that the thinkers of England who are interested in the sport of racist need,

do is to turn bafk a few pages of the history of the turf, anS go back to the year that Prioress won the Cesarewitch. In those days the American jockey was greatly ridiculed for his peculiar style of riding. It is amusing to recall the many changes in the American seat in the saddle. The English seat is the same now as it was half a century ago, while the American seat has been twisted and changed so many times that the different ways employed by American jockeys within the last 40 years are known by name and have been classified. To go back to the dead-heat made by Prioress and two others in the Cesarewitch. At that period the American jockey in the saddle took a position exactly the reverse of the Sloanesque style. He leaned far back in the saddle, with his feet pushed as far forward as possible, and in that unique position endeavoured to get the best result out of the animal he rode. I believe that the American jockey who enjoyed the distinction of riding Prioress in the dead-heat for the great handicap was named Tankersly. In the run-off, however, Tankersly was permitted to stand on the ground, ancl an English jockey was given the ]eg-ug on the American. The result was amazing, for Prioress won in a canter. That settled the fate of American jockeys at that lime in England, for both Tankersly and Charles Littlefield were promptly shipped home by ' their employer, Mr Richard Ten-Broeck, the first American who raced American horses in England. This was the signal for a radical change in America, for the erect seat in the saddle was copied, and an effort made to imitate English style, with far from satisfactory results. The first American to modify the English seat^was James M'Laughlin, who rode for the Dwyer brothers. M'Laughlin leaned forward in the saddle, he was alert and quick at the post, and invariably was first away, gaining a lead and a position in the first part of the race, which on the American circular track is a decided advantage. M'Laughlin headed the list of winning jockeys in America for several years; his method? quickly attracted attention, and were copied by George Church, a light-weight jockey, who loaned still farther forward in the saddle. The next in order was Edward Garrison, whose seat was a counterpart of Sloan's, without the finish of that remarkable jockey. A? Garrison's career as a jockey ended Sloan's began, and with the lessons of the past to guide him, and a brilliant opportunity to experiment on horses of various classes and dispositions, Sloan established a distinct school, and the "monkey-on-the-stick" style, a? many English critics derisively termed it on Sloan's first appearance in this country, has come to stay, so that with the exception of Mornington Cannon and Thomas Loates, every jockey in England is imitating the American seat introduced into this country three years ago. Qne critic proclaims that with the American seat the jockey cannot control his horse, and points out the fact that there is much swerving, crossing, and jostling by American jockeys.. That this is not true has been demonstrated time after tinle, for every race-goer kno\vs that there has always been, and always will be, more or less crowding, bumping, aud jostling in races where, the competitors are asked to extend themselves to the last ounce. The thoroughbred is not likely to swerve when going at half-speed, but, when he ,is urged to his utmost, and is all out, no matter what seat the jockey may employ, the tired horse is almost certain to swerve_. especially if he is being punished.