TRAINING AND RIDING. 123 



fact, this horse was ' shepherding ' me all through 

 the race/' 



" And whose horse was that ? '^ indignantly asked 

 the chairman. 



" YourSj sir," was the quiet but very effective reply. 



Nothing came of that inquiry. 



Jockeys are often accused of pulhng horses when 

 they are not in fault, but I am sorry to say I have 

 seen horses deliberately " stopped.'' 



Tn the majority of cases the men who instruct 

 the jockeys how to ride races are to blame. If a 

 jockey does not carry out the instructions he re- 

 ceives, he does not get many mounts. 



An Australian jockey has not much chance of 

 making a big fortune from riding fees alone ; there 

 are exceptions, but not many. An attempt was made 

 by Mr. W. A. Long, one of the members of the 

 A. J. C. Committee, to reduce the jockeys' fee for 

 a losing mount to a pound. I wrote strongly at 

 the time against this, and so did others, and even- 

 tually the fee was fixed at £2 instead of £3. For 

 a winning mount on the flat a jockey receives £5. 

 It is considerably more for hurdle and steeplechase 

 riding. 



When we consider the small number of mounts a 

 jockey can get in a year, his income cannot be 

 large. Thirty winning mounts is far above the 

 average for a jockey in Australia in a season. 



