240 A Morning at Newmarket 



ancestry of winners which the Stud Book shows her to 

 possess, reproves her in as gruff a voice as he can assume ; 

 and then, with three other bucks in rapid succession, she 

 follows on in her place. But it does not do to conclude 

 that the boy will make a jockey — far from it. There are 

 hundreds of boys who can sit thus unconcernedly on a 

 wiry and slippery thoroughbred, who have, moreover, 

 year after year, experience of riding gallops, which should 

 enable them to become judges of pace, and, indeed, who 

 are put up in trials if they give any evidence of ability 

 to their masters, always on the alert for a boy who can 

 ride ; and yet the number of really capable jockeys can 

 almost, if not actually, be counted on the fingers of one 

 hand — most cogent proof of the fact that jockey ship is 

 an art with a vast deal in it. 



As we watch the disappearing string, a cheery ' Good 

 morning ! ' comes from someone who passes — a famous 

 jockey cantering by on his hack — one whom we have 

 known well since he was a boy riding exercise -on his 

 south-country downs, and ' shaping ' in a way that de- 

 lighted the prince of horsemen, his father. So we can- 

 ter on by his side. 



' You're busy this morning ? ' we suggest. 

 ' Yes, I've ridden tw^o trials on the other side, and 

 have to ride two or three more here,' is the reply ; for if 

 a popular jockey makes a great deal of money, he has to 

 do a great deal of work for it. Over the springy turf we 

 canter, the larks constantly darting up at our horses' 

 feet — an extraordinary number frequent the Heath — the 

 rooks, engaged upon their business, settling and cawing 

 solemnly, and we discuss the past day's racing, with a 

 few words about that which is to come, taking care, how- 

 ever, not to ask indiscreet questions, which a rider in the 



