Category: Jockeys

Frederick James ‘Fred’ Archer was a legendary Victorian jockey whose life came to a tragic end, at his own hand, on November 8, 1886, at the age of 29. On the day after the second anniversary of the death of his wife, Nellie Rose, during childbirth, deliriously ill with typhoid fever and ‘in a state of unsound mind’, Archer shot himself with a revolver in his bedroom at Falmouth House, Newmarket.

Neverthless, ‘The Tin Man’, as Archer was known, won the jockeys’ title 13 years running between 1874 and 1886 and still jointly holds the record, alongside Elnathan ‘Nat’ Flatman, for the most consecutive titles. All told, he rode 2,748 winners, including 246 winners in a single season in 1885, thereby setting records that would stand until the inimitable Sir Gordon Richards rose to prominence decades later.

Unusually tall for a jockey at 5’10” – interestingly, the same height as Sir Anthony McCoy – Archer faced a constant battle with his weight in his later years and was forced into a Draconian regime of starvation diet, Turkish baths and purgatives, which ultimately contributed to his demise. Nevertheless, having eventually succeeded the equally ill-fated Tom French as stable jockey to Matthew Dawson in 1875, he went on to win the St. Leger six times, the Derby five times, the 2,000 Guineas and the Oaks four times apiece and the 1,000 Guineas twice, for a total of 21 British Classic winners.

The old adage, ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is’ is not always correct but, in the summer of 1998, it certainly was. The previous year, Puerto Rican-born Angel Jacobs had begun riding work on Newmarket Heath and quickly attracted favourable attention for his accomplished, professional technique. Jacobs subsequently embarked on a career as an amateur jockey, riding his first winner, Bold Faith, trained by Willie Musson, in a lowly Class E handicap, restricted to gentleman amateur riders, at Newbury on June 11, 1998. All told, he rode five winners from 21 rides, at a strike rate of 24%, culminating in victory for Gymcrak Flyer, trained by Gordon Holmes, in a similar race at Beverley on August 13.

Holmes said later that he considered Jacobs ‘a very good amateur to use’ and he was right, insofar as ‘Jacobs’ was, in fact, was former American professional jockey Angel Monserrate. Investigation by the British Amateur Jockeys’ Association revealed that Monserrate had ridden professionally in the United States before being banned after failing a drugs test in 1995. The following year, he adopted the pseudonym ‘Carlos Castro’ and began riding as an amateur, but he was exposed as an imposter by a former employer at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York after riding a winner, arrested and taken away in handcuffs.

Once his latest attempt at subterfuge was revealed, the Jockey Club took a dim view of his actions, disqualifying all five of his winners on the grounds that he was ineligible for races restricted to amateur riders, suspending his licence with immediate effect and later, banning him for ten years. Following his hearing at Portman Square, Monserrate declined to comment but, speaking on his behalf, his wife, Lisa, said later, ‘He just loves riding racehorses and was desperate to carry on. In amateur races he gets paid no money.’ You’ve got a love a mysterious situation like this. Of course in gambling it’s good to know where you stand, and so in the casino world jokacasino online pokies real money would seem to be the right option to go for!

To a modern audience, the late James Frederick ‘Jimmy’ Lindley, who died in March, 2022, aged 86, was best known as a respected paddock commentator on BBC Television, for whom he worked for nearly 30 years. However, in his first career, as a jockey, Lindley rode 882 winners on the Flat, including three British Classic winners. He won the 2,000 Guineas twice, on Only For Life, trained by Jeremy Tree, in 1963 and Kashmir, trained by Mick Bartholomew, in 1996 and the St. Leger once, on Indiana, trained by Jack Watts, in 1964. All three victories came by a short head or a head on horses subsequently rated ‘inferior’ or, at best, ‘average’ Classic winners, which bears testament to his acknowledged strength in a finish.

Lindley fought a battle with the scales throughout his career and, like his contemporary, Lester Piggott, spent a season riding over hurdles in 1958, during which he rode 25 winners, before reverting to the Flat. Granted that his opportunities were restricted by weight problems, his career statistics on the Flat barely do justice to his riding ability; he achieved his highest seasonal total, 71 winners, in 1963, and his highest placing in the jockeys’ table, ninth, in 1963, 1964 and 1965. In the face of kidney damage, Lindley retired from the saddle, aged 39, in 1974. He was recruited by BBC horse racing correspondent Julian Wilson to succeed Clive Graham, a.k.a. ‘The Scout’ at the ‘Daily Express’, who died in August that year.

Originally founded in London in 1750, the Jockey Club moved to Newmarket soon afterwards, where it established its own rules of racing, initially applicable only to Newmarket Heath, but subsequently adopted nationally and internationally. Indeed, until 1993, when the governance of horse racing was ceded to the newly-formed British Horseracing Board (BHB), the Jockey Club was officially reponsible for the control and regulation of the sport in Britain.

The Jockey Club retained its regulatory responsibilities until 2006, when they, too, were ceded to the newly-formed Horserace Regulatory Authority (HRA). A year later, the BHB and HRA merged to form the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), such that governance and regulation of horse racing were, once again, performed by a single body.

Nowadays headquarterd in central London, the Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the country. It operates a total of 15 racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs, Kempton Park and Newmarket, to name but a handful, and has various other commercial interests, including the National Stud. The Jockey Club is governed by Royal Charter, such that all the profits from its commercial activities are returned to racing.