WHY THE JOCKEY SHOULD CONTROL 267 



horses in training; and the trainer sometimes actually 

 knows the form of his own horses. Moreover, the owner 

 shares in this triumph of genius as well as the betting- 

 men and touts, and through them the public at large ! 

 Such universal knowledge ought to extend its benefits to 

 all that take part in the amusement ; but somehow we 

 don't quite find it so in practice ; for we are continually 

 hearing wails from disappointed owners, and of their 

 censuring their trainers for allowing secrets to escape 

 before they have taken advantage of knowledge that they 

 should have had exclusively to themselves. Trainers are 

 seldom satisfied with the results, which are often more 

 disappointing to themselves than to anyone else. Jockeys, 

 through the superior knowledge and the opportunities 

 which no other people possess, given them by the kind- 

 ness of owners and trainers, in riding so many trials, 

 properly ' rule the roast.' But 'we cannot all be masters, 

 nor can all the masters be truly followed.' Yet owners, 

 through the advice of their jockeys and trainers, do often 

 win large stakes, and so may be said to be served ; an 

 admitted fact for which jockeys, as they should be, are 

 always well paid, and the trainer occasionally personally 

 thanked. 



In the present day, many wondrous facts have been 

 brought to light, which, but for the ingenuity and 

 indomitable pluck of the jockey, might have for ever 

 lain concealed in the womb of time. Owners see this, 

 and for their own ends eagerly seize the ' golden oppor- 

 tunity ' of securing the services of these eminent persons 

 for private trials or in public races, in which they show 

 themselves infinitely superior to the vulgar racing-men of 

 old. Who ever saw or heard of Chifney, Buckle, Eobin- 

 son, Butler, or indeed any jockey of that day, riding 

 horses in the gallops, even for their own stables, much 



