348 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



my income to the mark I like." Said another 

 jockey : " My riding fees alone amount to a 

 thousand a year, and I am satisfied ; I earn 

 a hundred or two by riding in trials as well, 

 and I pick up an occasional pony by buying 

 hunters for gentlemen who employ me to do 

 so. A few presents also come my way ; 

 one foolish gentleman who won ^3,000 over 

 a mount of mine sent quite a lot of jewels 

 to my wife and children." 



With reference to the remuneration of jockeys 

 there is this much to be said — they must make 

 hay whilst the sun shines ; youth very soon 

 fades into old age, and gifts of horsemanship 

 suitable for light-weight riding are not continued 

 to jockeys for ever. Out of the hundreds of 

 boys who annually join the racing stables, perhaps 

 not ten will have sufficient nerve and ability 

 combined to ride successfully in one of the 

 great races of the season, even after they have 

 undergone a lengthened novitiate. At the present 

 time there are not more than twenty jockeys who 

 have a claim to be considered first rate in their 

 calling. 



So far as income is concerned, even a fourth- 

 rate jockey may be a gentleman ; he may at 

 any rate earn a thousand a year. The expert 

 horsemen of the period enjoy a total immunity 

 from all the coarser labour of the stable. The 

 fashionable, or, as he is called in the slang of 

 the turf, the "crack" jockey, as soon as his 

 indentures have expired, requires only to ride 

 his appointed horse ; he has no grooming to 

 do ; he keeps a valet to assist him in changing 

 his dress and to look after his "traps." He 



