FAMO US JOCKE YS 43 



to strengthen either his muscles or his nerves. 

 Taking all these things into consideration, it is not 

 surprising that a first-rate jockey should be in great 

 demand, and that large sums should be paid to secure 

 his services. Moreover, so strong are the temptations 

 to dishonesty that an owner of race-horses knows that 

 the best, if not the only, way to secure the fidelity of 

 a jockey is to pay him well. 



But the life of a popular jockey is by no means 

 ^ all sunshine and forced strawberries ; ' it is, and 

 has ever been, an arduous calling, as the following 

 facts will show : 



' With jockeys in high repute it is necessary to 

 remain in " condition " from the middle of March 

 till the end of October, though a week or a fortnight 

 are quite sufficient time for a rider to reduce himself 

 from his natural weight to sometimes a stone or a 

 stone and a half below it. An inquiry into this sub- 

 ject was made by Sir John Sinclair, and it was stated 

 by Mr. Sandiver, a surgeon long resident at l^ew- 

 market, that John Arnull, when rider to the Prince 

 of Wales, was desired to reduce himself as much as 

 he could to enable him to ride a particular horse ; in 

 consequence of which he abstained from every kind 

 of food, saving an apple occasionally, for the space of 

 eight days, and declared himself not only uninjured, 

 but in better wind, and altogether more fit to con- 

 tend in a severe race, than before he commenced this 

 unnatural course of diet. 



