436 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



more valuable than in the olden days. The story is 

 told of an old-time wealthy owner who, on winning the 

 Derby, gave his jockey two 5 notes, with a 

 patronising reminder to put them in the bank for a 

 rainy day. Compare this munificence with what has 

 obtained in the last two or three decades of the century. 

 No surprise is now expressed when a jockey receives a 

 douceur of 1000. Instances are known where twice 

 in a fortnight that sum has been paid to a jockey, and, 

 nowadays, 500 is looked upon as quite the thing to 

 be done. Glover, who was only a second-class jockey, 

 received 500 for winning the Lincoln Handicap, that 

 sum being more than the race was worth forty years 

 ago. Cannon received 500 for his mount on Thurio 

 in the Grand Prix de Paris; and Constable something 

 more for his chance mount on Sefton in the Derby. 

 When at his zenith, Wales, the notorious plunger and 

 defaulter, made presents of large sums to Archer. 

 "After all this," remarks a well-known owner and 

 writer, "it seems to me to be sheer nonsense to talk 

 about jockeys being underpaid. Win a selling race, 

 and the little imp who rode for you will expect a 

 ' tenner/ at the very least, for himself, his master, of 

 course, taking the mere riding fee. It was argued that 

 if jockeys were paid more they would not have to eke 

 out their means by betting. To my mind it would make 

 them bet all the more. Betting, as a matter of fact, 

 keeps most of the jockeys poor. Back a horse for a 

 jockey and see how long you will have to wait for your 

 money." Exceptions there are to the betting jockey, 

 and John Osborne throughout all his life has been one 

 of them, though that assertion is not made to create 

 the impression that he never betted on a race. From 

 his own lips we have the stupendous nature of his 



