CHAPTER XIL 

 How to Ride. 



That the jockeys of the present are not as good as those 

 of the past is apparent even to the most unsophisticated 

 mind. In the olden times the boys were better judges of 

 pace, obeyed instructions more closely and tried harder to 

 win than they do now. Pulling and unfairness of any kind 

 was comparatively unknown. 



Had a boy of the old regime pulled a horse or otherwise 

 contrived to make him lose, his master would have pulled 

 him off and given him the worst licking a lad ever had. 

 Now the owner has no recourse, and he may see his horse 

 lose through the deliberate machinations of the rider with- 

 out being able to say a word against it. 



Many a time an owner would set a little negro rider on 

 the back of a horse he knew could win and tell him if he did 

 not bring the animal in first past the post he would kill him, 

 and he meant it, too. It was worth as much as a boy's life 

 to not do his level best. 



The short distances of to-day have much to do with the 

 difference in the quality of the riding. But the boys of long 

 ago, when all racing was fair, seemed to be better judges of 

 pace, and they knew how to husband the strength of the 

 animals they bestrode. Now, in the short dashes, it is simply 

 a hustle and scramble to get off in front. Much of the igno- 

 rance on the part of the boys is brought about by trainers 

 who have never been riders themselves and do not know how 

 to instruct and teach a jockey. " Get away in front and 

 hustle home" is about all the average trainer says to the 

 boy, and the latter sometimes tries to do as he is told. If 

 the horse does not happen to be in the very best shape and 

 anxious to run himself, he cannot depend on the skill of the 

 rider to pull him through. 



The trainer forgets that it is pace that kills. Lexing- 

 ton, if he had been pushed from the very first, would have 

 done a half in : 48, but he would have begun to tire and any 

 horse of his time could have plodded along and beat him. 



