By 1856 James' robust approach to recovering money for unpaid bets had reached an international audience with a mention in the May issue of the National Magazine of New York:
".... we do find one or two instances of bets said to be lost, and, what is most remarkable, the losers are held up as unwilling to pay. We can only account for this strange anomaly by supposing that the person or persons to whom James Fiddaman refers are not of the aristocracy, perhaps not even Britons; or, it may be that Fiddaman labors under a mistake as to the price of Veteran, or the success of Lord of the Isles, at the last Derby. At any rate, it is certain that neither Fiddaman, nor the 'persons' whose names he threatens to publish, secured the services of Dockeray or Stamford. Hinc illae lacrymae:[Dockeray and Stamford claimed to have strategies for never losing money on a season's betting.]
KING'S LYNN, Norfolk, January 12, 1856 - Notice - If the person do NOT PAY the BET over to James Fiddaman, respecting the price of Veteran for the last Cambridgeshire, within 10 days from the date hereof, his name will be PUBLISHED in the paper as a defaulter; and if the person in the same town do not pay over the money he owes respecting the Lord of the Isles for the last Derby, his name will also be published."
James was deeply involved in horse racing in Norfolk, regularly entering the meetings at Lynn, Downham and Wisbech but until newspapers became accessible to online searches we did not know that he had raced his horses throughout England.
In the 1860s the growth of the railways promoted a dramatic icrease in attendance at race courses. The railways also enabled racehorses to be transported further afield and to arrive reasonably fresh. James took full advantage of this development and often visited courses as far away as Shrewsbury and Liverpool. 1864 was particularly notable because his 5 year old Reporter ridden by Capt. Townley had run in the Grand National Steeplechase at the Liverpool Spring Meeting, coming to grief before Becher's Brook on the second time round. James had also raced Flageolet that year finishing a disappointing fifth at Newmarket despite starting as 2 to 1 favourite but winning easily by a length and a half at the Shrewsbury Autumn meeting where he also started favourite at 6 to 4 on. His horses raced at Newmarket and Warwick in 1865, at Newmarket in 1869 and in 1870 at Cottenham, near Cambridge, where the Grand National was run that year.