Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-09-01
WOMEN ~A-sTKADDLE.
Madame stroobants Wants to Enter as a
Jockey.
From Tie L0nd0n Tsle0raDA.

FFONn The LOJtI9N leteNYubWs
Little surprise need be felt in these
days at the announcement that applica-
ton has just been made by a liege lady to
the Belgian Jockey club for permission to
ride in g%entlemen's races. Madame stroo-
bants-for such is the fair Amazon's name
has entered a horse Of her " for the
Prix des Danes at Louvan, and threatens
that, in the event OF her petition being re.
iected, she win 20 to the scales and insist
on her right to be weighed as an ordinary
jockey. We may assume that H. is her ln-
teutiOu to don boots and breeches, after
the fashion set by the professional horse
men of England, aud also to ride upon a
mans saddle. for Madame StrOObants can
hardly be ~ignOrant-the famous race be-
tween Mrs. Thornton and Frank Buckle
at York, to the contrary Notwithstanding
that the disposition Of a lady's weight
upon "A side-saddle gives great advantage
to her more equally balanced antagonist
of the other sex.
In ENGLAND the ladies who have hitherto
distinguished themselves as race riders
against time and against male antagonists
were always content to COntne themselves
TO the side saddle. No passage OF turf
history is better known thar that con-
nectcd with the two races at York, in the
first OF which Mrs. Thornton, uOminAlly,
though not really, the wife OF Col. Thorn
ton, Of T|hOrnyille Royal, was beaten by
MI. Flint, while in the second she defeated
the celebrated jockey Frank Buckle. The
races in question took place over York
race course IN 1904 and 1893, and the last
of the two afforded a subject for the PIC
tuce painted by Benjamin Marshall, Of
which man, engrayings still hang upon
the walls Of Yorkshire country houses
and wayside inns. "The lady Of Col.
Thornton" SAYS Pierce Egan IN his
sporting Anecdotes" sis equally at
tached To the sports Of the field with her
distinguished husband, and the singular
contest which took place in 1904 between
Mrs. Thornton and Mr.. Flint stands re-
corded as one Of the most remarkable oc-
currsrC es which ever happened in the an
nails OF the turf In the cours Of one
of their equestrian excursions in Thorn
Vile park, Mrs. Thornton and Mr.. Flint
had a dispute az TO the respective merits
of their horses. ~NingartllO, ridden by the
lady in her habit, cOntrlved to distance
Mir. Flint, when they submitted their
horses TO n competitive examination, and
the gentleman was 80 chagrined that he
challenged his fair conqueror, who was a
very pretty woman, to meet him in public
at York.
The match jumped with Col. ThOrnton's
humOr, and il was agreed thai It should
come of on the last day of the York meet
ing in 1891. IL was concluded on the fol-
lowing terms: "A match for 500 guineas,
with a bye bet Of 1000 gulneas, 4 miles,
between Col. ThOrnton's NingarillO and
Mr.. Flint's T%hOrnville; Mrs. Thornton 10
ride the former, catch weight, against Mr..
Flint Never, according to a local Jour
nal, We're 80 many peOple-at least 100000
in numOer-assembled upon hnavesmire
as on Aug. p, 1904, TO witness this unpaf-
alleied match. The ground was kept ana
the course cleared By the sixth light dra-
gOons, (which was unquestiOnably the
cause Of many lives being saYed.''
At the commencement Of the race the
odds were five and six to four on the lady,
but in running the last mile the odds
turned round in favor of Mr. Flint, who
took the lead and kept it without difficulty.
Mrs. Thornton used every eXertion to win,
but when she found that victory was out
Of the question she pulled up her horse
sin the most sportsmanllke STYLE" a cOu-
pie of distances from home. "Never,
surely says the enthusiastic reporter,
ibid a woman ride IN better form. II was
difficult to say whether her h~Orsemanship,
her dress, or her beauty wa most adj
mired, but the tout ensemble was unique"
The body OF her habit was leopard colored,
with blue sleeves, the skirt being bun aud
the cap blue. Mr.. Flint rode IN white.
No words could express Mrs. ThOrntOn's
disappointment at her defeat, and the
''ungallant conduct OF Mr.. Flint whose
only Oilense seems to have been that he
yanquished a pretty woman, was severely
reflected upon. 1t was said that no less
than 5000, 600 were staked upon them match,
and the universal admiration for the fair
sex with which Yorkshire was credited,
and which she has not yet lost, inflicted a