CHAPTER XXXIX 



PRACTICAL JOCKEYSHIP 



"Fees" of Old-Time Jockeys — The Apprentice Question — Some never 

 rise in Class — Well balanced at Start — Lucien Lyne's Class 



I HAVE just read in an English newspaper how 

 " Skeets " Martin had cleverly won a race. There is 

 an idea about that Martin is much older than he 

 really is. I have seen it stated somewhere that he is 

 bordering on fifty. As a matter of fact " Skeets " is 

 a year younger than myself. My memory serves me 

 correctly he was born in 1875. Wlien in America we 

 knew him as " Harry " Martin. I can remember 

 hearing about him long before I was twenty. I believe 

 he entered a racing stable when he was about fifteen. 

 It was in California that he first made his appearance 

 as a winner ; Mr David Gideon, who has been 

 mentioned in this book, was the first to give him his 

 chance and to take him east to New York. At that 

 time Skeets weighed about 7-2, and it is astonishing 

 how he has kept his weight down : he is something 

 like myself : our great asset has been that we have 

 not put on flesh. One year before he came to England 

 he had twelve hundred and fifty-seven mounts and 

 two hundred and sixty-nine winners. In that same 

 season he had two hundred and forty-two seconds 

 and one hundred and eighty-one thirds. Remember 

 too that he was only twenty-two years of age at that 

 time. 



The performances of other jockeys both before my 

 own time and during my career have always been of 



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