Today`s jockey is Robert Frederick "Fred" George Herbert, and, as this card tells us, he was born on November the first, 1887, in Canada - though it was actually in Hamilton, Ontario.
He is recorded as having started as a performer, specialising in acrobatics, and, according to many sources, at one time was in a group of fellow acrobats but then he decided he liked racing better. However, other sources skip the acrobatics - and our card backs this up, telling us that "running away to a racing stable, he served no apprenticeship, but won his first race at the age of eleven".
I am not sure what that race was, but we do know it was in May 1899, and took place in Kentucky.
As far as his first major prize, that was also in Kentucky; the Kentucky Derby of 1910. It was doubly notable because he was the first Canadian to ever win that race. However he was not a full Canadian, as his father was born in Manchester, England.
He may have gone on to better things, but in 1912, the Hart-Agnew Anti-Betting laws came into effect, and that pretty much ended horse racing in America.
It appears that after the First World War he picked up a patronage from the renowned Whitney family, who helped him move to England, where they had a large stable at Newbury. His greatest win over here was the Cesarewitch of 1913, which is even mentioned on our card, as his mount was "Fiz Yama", nowhere near the favourite, his odds were actually 50-1, but he came from nowhere to beat the field by a head, with the favourite only fourth. And the two were teamed together again at Epsom in 1915, winning the Great Metropolitan Handicap.
He also seems to have had an association with G W. Hands, and he is mentioned on our card too, quoting wins at Epsom in 1935. Mr. Sands is a very interesting character, an American, born in 1871 in Bridgeport, whose family moved to Birmingham when he was only nine. From there he became very interested in engineering and mechanics, starting out making bicycles and eventually ending up owning The Calthorpe Motor Co and the G.W. Hands Motor Co, as well as managing the Palace Hotel in Torquay.
Returning to out man, he retired on his sixty-first birthday, and rode the same day, at Hurst Park. And he died in Maidenhead in June 1955, aged sixty eight.
This set first appears in our original Gallaher reference book RB.4, published in 1944, and edited by Eric Gurd as :
- 1936. FAMOUS JOCKEYS (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 7/16". Numbered 1-48. Fronts, printed in full colour by offset-litho, black frame lines, white margins, subjects titled. Backs printed in (a) dark blue (b) violet blue, with descriptions and "Issued by Gallaher Ltd. Virginia House, London & Belfast". Printed by E. & S.A. Robinson, Ltd., Bristol.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, this has been shortened, quite considerably, to :
- FAMOUS JOCKEYS. Sm. Nd. (48) ... G12-83
You will notice that no mention is made of the shade variation, so I presumed that it was decided that the violet was simply a variation in the ink, and struck from record. However, in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index the entry reads as follows :
- FAMOUS JOCKEYS. Sm. Back in (a) blue (b) mauve. Nd. (48) ... G075-590
I think today`s Card of the Day is almost certainly blue, but if someone has it in the violet or mauve colourway perhaps you could let us know so we can compare notes, thanks in advance.