In the 1850s, when stable lads exercised horses, it was customary to tie the rider to the horse by means of a strap fastened around his wrist then attached to one of the reins. By and large, this unorthodox method saved the odd tumble, but should a horse fall on the gallops, he would take his unfortunate lad with him.
This was the fate of nine-year-old Jonathan Riste whose mount ran away with him before falling into a deep quarry. Riste was unconscious for three months – only his youth pulled him through – and, on his recovery many months later, he went back into the same stable.
Jonathan Riste was born in Cheltenham in 1844. As a young man he worked for the trainer Mr Holman and rode for some time as a gentleman jockey, his qualifications for this being a farm he owned at Agg's Hill. He also owned several horses, keeping them in York Passage, where Mr Frank Merrell trained for him. Riste’s best-known possession was the wonder mare Lady York, which was virtually unbeatable in pony races.
However, in February 1888 Jonathan Riste found himself warned off following the running of the Yarborough Hunters’ Flat Race Plate at Four Oaks Park. The Racing Calendar reported that: ‘Mr Riste was called before the Stewards to explain the suspicious running and riding of West Wind and, his explanation not being considered satisfactory, he was suspended from riding at the meeting, and the matter was ordered to be reported to the Stewards of the Grand National Hunt.’
Those Stewards also deemed his explanation unsatisfactory. They warned him off all National Hunt courses and reported him to the Stewards of the Jockey club, who extended the sentence to cover all meetings held under the Rules of Racing. Furthermore, the Stewards of the Irish Turf Club and National Hunt also extended the sentence to all meetings held under their rules.
After getting married, he became landlord of the York Hotel in York Passage, Cheltenham, and it was here -and on the racecourse – that he made a book.
He was there for about twenty-five years before leaving to set up a training establishment, Heath House, next to Lewes prison. In 1903 he was declared bankrupt at Lewes Court where it was noted that gambling 'had brought on or contributed to his bankruptcy'.
Riste was at Priam's Lodge, Epsom, in 1923, when he finally retired from active training.
He had been suffering from ‘heart weakness’ for some time when, on December 27, 1926, he died, aged 82, at Sutton in Surrey. He was buried at 11.30 in Epsom Cemetery on Saturday, Jan 1, 1927.