JOCKEYS AND JOCKEYSHIP 105 



the owner as a rule behaves more or less gen- 

 erously — as a rule, not always : some owners 

 think it is a bad thing to spoil jockeys, and 

 avoid extravagance " on principle " ; only " on 

 principle," they say, and of course if a gentle- 

 man is not of a liberal disposition such prin- 

 ciples are very agreeable and convenient for him. 

 Expenses ? No, there is not any profit to be 

 made out of those, at least I find not, for few 

 people guess what it costs to travel about as 

 we have to do. You must stay comfortably at 

 a good hotel, and landlords do not reduce their 

 prices much in race weeks. 



That is all very well — the money, I mean — 

 but it is not all cantering to the post on a 

 sunny afternoon after a friendly chat with owner 

 and trainer who tell you you are sure to win, 

 and then jumping off and doing what is ex- 

 pected of you, winning comfortably without any 

 trouble, trotting home on your hack to a good 

 dinner with cheery friends, with no anxiety and 

 only a little curiosity as to the amount of the 

 cheque you will receive for your success. 



That is one side of the picture, but there is 

 quite another one, and perhaps this does not 

 include any dinner at all. You often read that 

 some jockey is lucky in being able to ride a 



