Seth Ferry
Seth "The Master" Ferry was a prominent rider, dealer, owner and trainer of racehorses in South Australia.
Biography
Seth Ferry was born at "Providence House", Ponders End, Lower Edmonton, Middlesex, where his parents John Mattinson Ferry and Mary Ferry, née Beckett, ran a school, and had a family of three daughters and four sons, of which Seth was the second. Other reports have him born in Enfield, Middlesex, purportedly within the sound of Bow Bells.Ferry, senior, being dissatisfied with his financial position, health, and life in London, and having seen Allan Bell of Mount Barker's prize-winning wheat at The Great Exhibition of 1851, decided on a new life for his family in the young colony. They sailed to South Australia aboard Derwent, and after a voyage of four months arrived in Adelaide in March 1853. Their first billet was in Norwood, where Mrs. Ferry and her daughter established a school for young ladies, which they dubbed "Providence House", near the Maid and Magpie Hotel. Their next move was to Woodside, where Ferry senior founded a timber yard "at a little above... Adelaide prices", and offered for sale roadside allotments subdivided from his survey.
Ferry, who had never shown any aptitude for schoolwork, became passionately fond of horses, particularly riding over jumps, much to his father's displeasure. He and his older brother John, after searching for gold at Mount Torrens and Stony Creek, with little to show for their efforts, embarked on the timber-getting business, John being particularly adept at splitting wood for shingles. Seth then purchased a team of bullocks and started a carrying business, which was so successful he employed a number of drivers. He then sold his interest in the business and worked breaking horses for J. H. Angas, a prickly character to deal with, he discovered. He made a business of buying up horses, giving them some training and selling at a substantial profit. While on such a purchasing trip to Robe he made the acquaintance of the young Tom Hales, who would become one of Australia's premier jockeys, and Adam Lindsay Gordon, with whom he would have many encounters later, and become something of a friend. He made further trips to Wirrabara, Mintaro and G. C. Hawker's Bungaree station, trading and breaking promising horses.
Ferry got out of horse-breaking and took out an auctioneer's licence, against the advice of auctioneer King, who argued that a vendor could safely get a better price if he had no knowledge of the faults of the animal involved. Later in 1869 he sold up his stock and property apart from the Woodside house and half-a-dozen horses, and took to the road with his brother-in-law and a small retinue, buying and selling in the South-East and across the border into Victoria. His tour extended to Ballarat, Geelong and Melbourne, joining in hunts at each location.
He made several trips to Victoria, purchasing horses then droving the mob back to Adelaide and selling them at a substantial profit. Soon competition put an end to this lucrative activity and Ferry concentrated his attention on the auction business, first as Ferry & Dawnwell, then Ferry, Moore & Wilkinson.
Adelaide Hunt Club
He was an enthusiast for fox hunting, and was, with William Blackler, one of the earliest members of the Adelaide Hunt Club, founded after Blackler imported from England enough foxhounds to form a pack. Ferry sold Blackler a fine horse, Priam, at a very fair price, which surprised fellow members, thinking he would keep such a champion for himself. Ferry however had a "sorry looking nag" Gipsy Girl, which, despite appearances, was a fearless jumper and the better hunter. Gipsy Girl won the first Adelaide Hunt Club Cup in 1869, with J. C. G. "Candy" Harslett in the saddle. The 1873 recession in South Australia had a severe impact on the Adelaide Hunt Club, and Ferry was approached by senior members John Hart, Jr. and Arthur Malcom to take on the role of Master of the Foxhounds, which he accepted, and built kennels at his home property on the corner of Unley Road and Commercial Road, Unley. It was on this account he gained the nickname "The Master". He was noted for training horses for hunting and jumps races: hurdles and steeplechases. The Actor, Banjo, Cromwell. Gunn, Sir Ewan, Regent, Ronald, Sarchedon, Simpleton, Simulator, Syntax, The Trojan, and Wallaby were notable.His horses were successful in some of the early races organised by the Hunt Club:
the chestnut horse Sarchedon, which he trained, won the Hunt Cup in 1878 despite his earlier diagnosis of lameness, and repeated the success the following year. His grey gelding Sir Ewan took the Hunt Cup in three consecutive years 1884–1886 with the same jockey, Frank T. Cornelius, with an increasing handicap on each occasion.
Onkaparinga Racing Club
He was one of the founders, and at his death the last founding member, of the club which is now known as the Oakbank Racing Club, and in its early days served as a steward.Ferry entered a great many events at Oakbank, but, apart from the Great Eastern Steeplechase, which he won with Darkie and Gunn and the triumphs of Banjo, even his best horses, such as Wallaby, Sarchedon, Simpleton and Simulator, winners of numerous flat races and hurdles elsewhere, had little success on that course.
South Australian Jockey Club
In 1875, or perhaps earlier, Ferry and W. H. Formby were commissioned to investigate the suitability of Sir Thomas Elder's property at Morphettville, then marshland known as "Bay of Biscay Flat", for a racecourse. They reported that the area was susceptible to flooding from the nearby Brownhill Creek, and that it was littered with dips and gulleys, but both problems could be overcome with earthworks and there was no shortage of sand nearby, and in other ways was an ideal location.A racing club company was then founded, and Ferry was one of the original purchasers of a £5 or £10 share.
Adelaide Racing Club
Ferry and a small group of sporting gentlemen leased the "Old Course" on the East Parklands, for a Queen's Birthday race meeting which they held on 24 May 1878.Subsequently Ferry, Gabriel Bennett, William Blackler, and Dr. Peel secured from the Adelaide City Council, with a right to enclose and charge admission, the lease of the course for 21 years at nominal rental but with the requirement to effect considerable improvements. This lease, which was renewed in a revised form in 1883 was criticised by the Press. They then set about forming what became the Adelaide Racing Club, which culminated in a General Meeting held at the Globe Hotel on 14 October 1879, which decided to adopt a modified version of Victorian Racing Club rules; the committee to consist of the four lessees plus three elected members: George Church, Henry Hughes, and W. F. Stock were proposed and elected unanimously.
In late 1879 the totalizator was made legal on South Australian racecourses, and Ferry purchased at the cost of £300 a "box tote", which he leased to the Club, at some profit to himself if the machine's legal status did not change. Bookmakers were charged 10 guineas to operate on the grounds. A Melbourne "bookie", Joe "Leviathan" Thompson, refused to pay this charge, and sued the lessees for being refused admission. He won, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, costing both parties thousands of pounds. Thompson's true target may have been the totalizator, not the right of the lessees to charge entrance fees. The council, whose lease contract was found to be wrong in law, rewrote it with allowable charges specified.
Between 1880 and December 1881 three of the lessees dropped out for various reasons, leaving only Blackler and Ferry, who were joined by Blackler's son, W. A. Blackler. Several members, alarmed at the club's ballooning financial liability, resigned from the committee, leaving it short of the quorum necessary to appoint replacements, and the Club had to be re-formed.
In mid-1883 the totalizator became illegal again, resulting in reduced attendance at the Adelaide's racetracks; then South Australia entered a period of economic downturn, brought about by the drought of 1884–1886, and the racing industry suffered further; the A.R.C. disproportionately so, and Blackler felt the time was ripe to cut their losses, and outlined a plan whereby the Council would resume the course and recompense the partners, as they were keen to extend Halifax Street through the Parklands, cutting the "Old Course" in two. Ferry refused to co-operate, and there began the split between the two partners, which became quite bitter, at times to the point of farce.
In 1885 a consortium of businessmen led by William Rounsevell, keen to improve the profitability of the Morphettville course by adding extra facilities like a steeplechase course and a plumpton, needed to close down the "Old Course". They offered to purchase the lease from Ferry and Blackler, but could not however countenance Ferry's asking price of £5000. He had, for no obvious reasons apart the desire to upstage the S.A.J.C., invested twice as much on improvements as the Council conditions had stipulated, notably on the grandstand, which was better appointed than that at Flemington.
In 1886 Ferry was declared insolvent.
Then followed a few years where meetings were run by Ferry for his own benefit, to the chagrin of the Blacklers, with John Saunders as secretary running sufficient meetings to satisfy the Council's requirements. Stake money was modest however, attracting few starters to races dominated by Ferry's own stable, and consequently poor attendance.
Other entertainments included races between hunting dogs and a kangaroo, which had been specially trained for the purpose. On one occasion the 'roo was saved from a probable mauling by Seth on his fractious jumper Sweep, in a remarkable feat of horsemanship.
On 11 October 1888, aware that the totalizator would soon become legal, a meeting of interested sportsmen held at the Globe Hotel resolved to re-form the Club once more. A steering committee consisting of Ebenezer Ward, M.P., J. MacDonald, and Samuel James Whitmore was formed.
In November 1888 the Blacklers agreed to take over the lease and the Club's debts to Ferry, assessed as £2,500, and brought in a new co-lessee, John Pile. A provisional committee was formed to found a new club: J. C. Bray, M.P., J. H. Gordon, M.L.C., E. Ward, M.P., J. Pile, W. Blackler, J. McDonald, S. J. Whitmore, Gabriel Bennett, and Dr. O'Connell.