I04 



RACING. 



Can it be denied or ignored that at this present time there 

 are left among us but some three or four jockeys of the old 

 school — men who have never during their long career staked 

 on their greatest achievements a tithe of the sum which our dis- 

 solute modern urchins wager on a selling-race, being therein 

 aided and abetted by certain low fellows, not always of the 

 baser sort ; and that this evil has increased to an extent which 

 has rendered necessary the steps which at last have been taken 

 to check it ? 



In 1879, ^^' Craven, who was then a steward of the 

 Jockey Club, brought forward a motion forbidding jockeys to 

 ride at Newmarket or elsewhere unless they had previously, by 

 apphcation at the Registry Office, obtained a licence from the 

 stewards, and making suspension for the jockey and a fine of 

 25/. for the trainer the consequence of knowingly infringing 

 this rule ; and Mr. Craven furthermore proposed that, ' should 

 it be satisfactorily proved to the Stewards of the Jockey Club 

 that any licensed jockey is the owner or part owner of race- 

 horses, or that he is in the habit of betting, they shall use their 

 discretion as to withdrawing such jockey's licence.' 



' Any person proved to have betted for or with any jockey 

 on races may be warned off Newmarket Heath.' 



The first part of this rule — applying to the issue of licences 

 — was carried, but the penal clauses as to betting, &c., were 

 rejected, mainly in consequence of certain jockeys threaten- 

 ing, in the event of their being passed, to retire from the pro- 

 fession. 



The effect of this leniency was instantaneous. A class of 

 gambling jockeys at once bought horses, and so played the 

 game that it became impossible for an owner to be sure that 

 the rider he had engaged for a race had not himself a direct 

 interest in one or more of the other competitors. Thus fresh 

 legislation was unavoidable, and in 1882 Mr. Craven, returning 

 to the attack, moved and carried by a majority of 11 the fol- 

 lowing resolution — ' That the stewards be requested to exercise 

 in future, at their discretion, their power of withholding licences 



