RACE RIDING. 



the running ; 3. Waiting in front ; 4. Keeping with one's 

 horses, and then coming away at the finish and winning 

 if one can. As it is impossible to foretell how a race will 

 be run, or what changes may occur while the horses are 

 actually running, the jockey should be ready to vary 

 his tactics according to circumstances with the utmost 

 promptness. When we consider that the time for 

 action often lasts but for two or three seconds, during 

 which to calculate the various chances and to resolve 

 what to do, we shall cease to wonder that this jockey 

 instinct, or intuitive power of grasping the situation, 

 combined with quickness and courage to act, is as rare 

 a mental faculty as genius in any other walk of life. 

 Possibly, a dozen men in England who can ride 8 st. 

 7 lbs. possess it ; probably, not as many. 



Judging Pace. — A jockey should not alone have a 

 firm seat, good hands, be thoroughly well up in all the 

 tactics of race riding, and have courage and dash to carry 

 them out as opportunity may offer, but should also 

 know at what pace his own horse is going compared 

 to that of the other runners, should be able to regulate 

 the speed so that he may have the best possible chance 

 of " getting home " successfully, and should be able to 

 select the exact spot from which he ought to make 



