40 THE TURF 



thorough knowledge of the horses, their 

 ages, and their public running. 



Taking into consideration the immense 

 sums of money run for by English race- 

 horses, the persons that ride them form an 

 important branch of society ; and although 

 the term ' jockey' is often used in a meta- 

 phorical sense, in allusion to the unfair 

 dealings of men, yet there ever have been, 

 and now are, jockeys of high moral char- 

 acter, whom nothing would induce to do 

 wrong. Independently of trustworthiness, 

 their avocation requires a union of the 

 following not everyday qualifications : con- 

 siderable bodily power in a very small 

 compass/ much personal intrepidity; a 

 kind of habitual insensibility to provoca- 

 tion, bordering upon apathy, which no 

 efforts of an opponent, in a race, can get 

 the better of; and an habitual check upon 

 the tongue. Exclusive of the peril with 

 which the actual race is attended, his 

 profession lays a heavy tax on the con- 

 stitution. The jockey must not only at 

 times work hard, but the hardest of all 

 tasks he must work upon an empty 

 stomach. During his preparation for the 



