THE JOCKEY 227 



the course of a few years ? They appear to be 

 diminishing annually. Compare them with the 

 skilled jockeys of some thirty to forty years ago. 

 Amongst that class we had Alfred Day, James 

 Bartholomew, Charlton, Wells, Job Marson, Sam 

 Rogers, Basham, John Osborne, T. Chaloner, 

 Daley, Aldcroft, Arthur Edwards, Custance, James 

 Goater, Luke and James Snowden, Fordham, 

 Ashmall, Maidment, French, Kendal, J. Adams, 

 H. and J. Grimshaw, Quinton, Plumb, Bullock, 

 Whittington, Cliff, Heartfield, Morris, Loates, 

 Hibberd, Cannon, Doyle, and numerous others. 

 What have we now ? The contrast is striking 

 indeed! In seeking for a reason for this great 

 change, I would ask, Is it because the minimum 

 weight has been raised ? Under the old system, 

 when the lowest regulation weight was four stone, 

 boys had several years' experience before they 

 reached the weight at which we now start. To say 

 that those "infants" could not ride is sheer nonsense. 

 "Weatherby" teems with abundant evidence to the 

 contrary. If gentlemen believed one half of the 

 reports flying about respecting the honesty of 

 jockeys they would give up racing. We are per- 

 petually hearing about what are called "jockey 

 rings." I myself do not believe that such combina- 

 tions exist. However, while it might be easy for a 

 few jockeys to combine in the formation of a "ring," 

 it would be difficult for a large number to effect such 

 a combination. Having clearly proved a jockey guilty 

 of fraudulent practices, suspend him at once, and for 



Q2 



