CHIFNEY AND OTHER JOCKEYS DEFENDED. 299 



backed another horse, may lose and would pay. But there 

 would have been no dishonesty if the horse had been beaten. 

 The fact is, horses are beaten from other causes than the 

 roguery of owner, trainer, or jockey. It is possible to cite 

 numerous instances in which the jockey, by consummate art 

 has, at the critical moment, turned what would have been an 

 easy defeat into a splendid victory, and not unoften at his own 

 cost. At Goodwood on one occasion this was so palpably 

 done at the cost of some thousands of pounds to the jockey, 

 that the prefix of "honest" was ever after attached to the 

 rider's name. The contest for the blue riband of the turf 

 itself can contribute a case, a parallel to which it will not be 

 easy for the Professor himself to find off the race-course. In 

 this instance a jockey rode the winner for his employers when 

 his own horse ran second. In one minute he could have 

 made a splendid fortune and would never have been called to 

 account. But the temptation, great it must be confessed, had 

 no charm for him. He preferred honour to riches. 



Fortunately these facts are known and appreciated by the 

 chief supporters of racing, and therefore the jockeys as a 

 body can afford to treat with contempt attacks upon their 

 honesty. For myself, I find it difficult to believe that the 

 writer really supposes the occult practices he condemns have 

 existence. According to him, trainers and jockeys, by com- 

 bining to deceive their employers, make their own fortunes, 

 and the unhallowed process is kept an undivulged secret from 

 all save the nefarious accomplices. According to the pro- 

 fessor, the evil is by no means fleeting, it is chronic. Annually 

 similar frauds occur, and fresh owners take the place of their 

 ruined predecessors, to be dealt by with the same unrelenting 

 dishonesty. But such a theory carries its own refutation : 

 were it so, no owner, even a millionaire, would be able to 



