UPON JOCKE YS 249 



with 100/. It chanced that year that John Scott's powerful 

 stable was without a horse likely to start for the Derby, and 

 Lord Airlie was naturally anxious to secure the services of 

 Frank Butler to ride his horse at Epsom. Nothing could be 

 more legitimate than a present given to the great Whitewall 

 jockey under these circumstances ; but such was Butler's 

 astonishment at receiving 100/. for winning a little race at 

 Newmarket, that he instantly put the money back into Lord 

 Airlie's hand, and requested him to back Clincher for him 

 with it for the coming Derby. When evening came Lord Airlie 

 dined (as was then the usual custom) at the Jockey Club 

 Rooms. Tidings of the present which he had given to Butler 

 reached the late Lord Derby's ears, and after dinner he pro- 

 ceeded to lecture Lord Airlie in very stinging language upon 

 the impropriety of demoralising a jockey by such unusual 

 generosity. Lord Derby's remonstrances were heartily echoed 

 by General Peel and Lord Glasgow, with the result that upon 

 the followincT morning; Lord Airlie shook the dust of New- 

 market off his feet, and retreated to London in order to escape 

 a renewal of the reproaches which had been launched at his 

 head. 



It is only some forty years ago, yet how different is the 

 atmosphere by which we are now surrounded ! Instead of 100/., 

 presents of five times that amount, and even more, are now 

 constantly bestowed upon jockeys for winning races at New- 

 market and elsewhere, compared with which the triumph of 

 Clincher over Compass, a few weeks before the Derby, was a 

 matter of great significance. The status and condition of our 

 modern professional horsemen have, as a natural consequence, 

 been elevated to such a disproportionate degree that it becomes 

 the Jockey Club to take up their parable against the unwhole- 

 some system of lavishing extraordinary rewards in return for 

 very slight services. It is impossible that jockeys can be kept 

 in their proper position when successful members of the riding 

 fraternity are enabled to realise fortunes of 100,000/. and more, 

 within a dozen years of their first appearance in the saddle. 



