My Racing Adventures 



Then, from a jockey's point of view, there 

 are other grievances connected with this matter 

 deserving of attention. They are apt to worry 

 him a trifle at certain crises of his fate. Having 

 received his orders, for instance, and carried 

 them out to the best of his ability, maybe 

 without success, he is liable to run up against 

 the Irresponsible Critic. This oracle does not 

 mince his words, even if he makes a hash of 

 things. 



We may hear him proclaim in the paddock 

 after a close finish that one of the jockeys taking 

 part in it certainly threw the race away, and that 

 he ought to do his riding for the future in a 

 barge with a net over him to keep him in. Many 

 of these critics have never been on a horse. They 

 speak sarcastically with reference to a subject of 

 which they are absolutely ignorant, with the 

 result that their fulminations are absurd. A 

 connoisseur of this stamp expressed to me his 

 conviction that a well-known cross-country jockey 

 had " pulled his horse down " at the ditch fence, 

 and I was expected to receive the statement with 

 equanimity. The idea of jockeys " pulling 

 horses down " in the manner alleged tickled my 

 fancy. A critic of jockey ship who has never 

 been on a horse's back is assuredly at a dis- 



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