i6o JOCKEYS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



JOCKEYS. 



Difficulties in obtaining good jockeys — Necessity of reform of the light-weight 

 scale — Evils of having boys in the saddle in short and in long courses — 

 Audacity of the boys — Heavy jockeys wanted — Temptations in their path ; 

 lavish gifts to children — Results of extravagance — The simple remedy, to pay 

 a fair wage — Value of an able and experienced jockey — Remuneration in 

 days gone by ; the Duke of Grafton's gift ; my own experience ; incident at 

 Welbeck Abbey — The work of a jockey in the past and present contrasted ; 

 wasting in the old days ; luxury versus deprivations. 



The difficulties of the trainer do not end when he has had 

 the happy fortune to secure a good horse, and to bring him fit 

 and well to the post ; for then comes the all-important and 

 difficult-to-be-answered question, " Who is to ride him } " 

 In times gone by, in the days of Chifney and Robinson, 

 there were men of talent in the profession who rode scienti- 

 fically. To-day, with a few brilliant exceptions, the charge 

 often heard that our jockeys are "a host of butcher-boys" is 

 unfortunately not very far from the truth ; for they are for 

 the most part precocious lads who neither know their own 

 business, nor will submit to be taught it by those who do. 

 If you have weight to spare, you may chance to secure the 

 services of an experienced jockey; but the chance is a very 

 slender one, and more often you have to put up a useless 

 boy, and bear as best you can the inevitable defeat. 



