SIXTY YEARS ON THE TURF 



who, were the apprenticeship scheme in fair sway, 

 would offer strong competition to the old hands. The 

 sporting proverb runs that nothing beats a good old 

 'un except a good young 'un. The lack of good young 

 'uns has tended to the enrichment of the old 'uns, who 

 lived in a paradise of apparent security till the 

 Americans swooped down " like the wolf on the fold." 

 In olden times the average trainer usually had 

 three or four boys that, apart from causing to work in 

 the stables, he taught to ride, and that he saw were 

 given opportunities to ride in public. Practice, 

 everybody knows, tends to perfection, and without 

 practice there can be little cleverness. There has 

 grown up an idea that it is not safe to trust a 

 little boy when a coup is in contemplation ; and 

 yet, on the other hand, there is a rush for Johnny 

 Keiff even at the expense, as some would call it, of 

 putting up two or three stone of dead weight ! How 

 can the views and the practice be reconciled ? " Oh," 

 it may be said, " Reiff is an exception." Yes ; he is 

 an exception, because he has been exceptionally 

 treated. He has had exceptional — which should be 

 common — facilities of tuition ; he has had exceptional 

 opportunities of practice ; and, above all, he has had 

 exceptional supervision by his relatives. These are the 

 reasons why the younger Reiff is an exception to 

 some of our youngsters. 



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