The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-08-22
BEN RIGBY TO VISIT
ST. LOUIS THIS FALL.
JOCKEY Who Was Developed at Old
south side Park and Madison VIII
Return In December.

According to Mrs. Ben Rieby. who va.
a visitor at The Fair Grounds yesterday
and who WAS formerly Miss Maud West
of this city. her husband. who was de-
veloped at the minor tracks Of st. Loui:
and who Is now one of the leading jock
eys in France, may ride in the East newt
summer.
Mrs. Rigby has Just returned from
France. where she passed the last two
years with her husband. She is now Wis
iting her parents in st. Louis. and said
that she was slac to get back on this
side of the ocean once more. Her father,
John West. ior,ierly owned Churchill
Clark and several other good horses on
the LEGAL tracks.
Yesterday was the first time Mrs. Rigby
has appeared at the local track. and she
stated that she was glad to see the IA
miliar old course once more.
Ben is meeting with great success in
France" she said. and he is now I'M
der contract to two leading owners of the
French turf. Count Collonais and Nj.
+. Lours have first and second call on
his services. He rides at about ITO pounds.
and this gives a better chance to him in
France than in this country.
In handicaps in France. the top weight
Is often li5 pounds. This enables full
grown men to ride instead of mere boys.
Meetings are rarely longer than two days
at any one course. and the longest meet
ing l know is of four days duration.
b won the Grand Prix two years ago.
French turf. the name being borrowed, l
believe. from the term the English apply
TO the Derby. Ben has had successes from
the time he reached France and has had
the advantage in two respects In particu-
lar.
In the first place. the Americans have
the Judgment of pace commented upon so
often. Then they can outfinish the foreign
ers. | often used TO laugh at those crack
French jockies when they came down the
stretch. with their British seat in the sad
die. and trying to ride a hard finish sitting
upright and using a long rein.
They simply had no chance at all. with
the American jockeys. They used TO laugh
at little Jerry Ransch; who was a great
friend of my husband. and whom they
considered a mere boy. But he worked his
way to the top rank in short order. and
they soon learned to fear him Ben had
no trouble in making his way once he got
mounts. He won such a series of victories
on long shots that he soon was one of the
most noted figures on the turf.
Races are run on the turf. of course. 1t
is rare that races are run two days in cue
cession over the same route. even at one
meeting. The route of each race is changed
daily. This may be to help the nature of
torn up pretty badly by constant racing.
or may be to AFFORD variety. / confess l
have been over there more than two years
and don't know their exact reason for
this as yet.
Ben will pc over in this country the
coming winter. He may ride in the East
next summer. although he has received
several offers to ride on the French
courses. But he is anxious to get back
and take d look at his old home and to
ride in his native country once more.
He can speak French like a native now.
and il would probably stupefy a lot of his
old friends who used to frequent the South
Side and Madison tracks to hear him dis
coursing on the French courses. He ex-
poets to reach this city about December