226 THE ENGLISH TURF 



watching. It is not stating too much to say that the 

 jockey question is the most serious one of all with which 

 Turf legislators have to deal because of the extreme difficulty 

 of coping with it. Jockeys are paid to ride horses to win 

 if they can, and it does not say much for the code of honour 

 governing the body of jockeys that so much ground for 

 dissatisfaction should exist. It is the old story of putting 

 power into the hands of ignorant and grasping people, and 

 the fault lies with those who give power to those who should 

 be their servants. The jockey is the spoiled child of the 

 Turf, and spoiled children are the same in every walk of 

 life. Step by step the fawning process has culminated in 

 a state of things that is not at all desirable, and the last 

 person to blame is he who takes advantage of a course that 

 is so clearly laid open to him. The reason why jockeys 

 should be watched so closely is that into their hands very 

 fateful issues are placed. Into the minute or two that they 

 are in the saddle are crowded the months, perhaps years, of 

 anxiety of owner and trainer, and all the patient skill of the 

 last-named can be cast to the winds by a few seconds 

 of carelessness on the part of the jockey. But the supply 

 of men between 7 st. and 8 st. possessed of the needful 

 skill and experience is extremely limited, and people think 

 it diplomatic in consequence to put up with this, that, or 

 the other. But such a course is to be deprecated strongly. 

 Jockeys must ride to live, and absence of engagements will 

 quickly bring the most independent to his senses. 



For the capable jockey there is, however, no lack of 

 engagements at the present time, and the earnings of such 

 should satisfy the most exacting. Handsome retainers are 

 pressed upon them, though the ^5,000 which J. Sloan 

 received from Lord William Beresford for the 1899 season 

 was something very exceptional. But the jockeys in the 

 front rank reckon their incomes by thousands, and it is no 

 rare thing for a mere boy, who in any other walk of life 

 would fill the humblest position, to receive a salary of 

 ^1,000 for a season's riding abroad. Some of our jockeys 

 have done so well that they have been able to emulate the 

 most successful of trainers in the magnificence of their 



