NEWMARKET REMINISCENCES 193 



busy and get off a lot of weight, so as to be able 

 to do 9 St. 7 lb. He had a month's notice, to 

 give him a chance, but set to work like a Trojan 

 (did those lying gentlemen ever go out wasting, 

 I wonder ?) and plodded along for hours a day 

 with a heavy burden of clothing, in addition to 

 his own lo St. 7 lb. or more. My word ! how 

 hot it was, and what fine times for anybody 

 seeking to reduce his bulk unless inclined to 

 moisten the clay, and then you put on more 

 than you could take off. Poor Dick toiled and 

 slaved, trudged till his feet went, and bravely 

 kept the muzzle on, for which he was rewarded by 

 being pumped on at roadside pubs., whose 

 quidnuncs took special interest in him on the 

 supposition that so big a chap was training to 

 fight, and was, so far, more worth attention than 

 a jockey. To cut a long story short, Chaloner 

 did at infinite pains get down to weight all right, 

 and kept there ready for duty, mid the horse he 

 had wasted for won in due course. So there, 

 you say, all ends happily. Well, it did and it did 

 not, because, as it happened, the gee was given 

 9 St. by the handicapper instead of being set to 

 carry the extra 7 lb. Under the circumstances, 

 brother George was put up in place of the patient 

 sufferer Dick, and all his trouble and mortifica- 

 tion of the flesh counted for nought. 



That was not so long ago, but we have seen 

 many changes in jockeys and jockey methods. 

 Even at Newmarket on race days you scarcely 

 ever meet or come across a rider doing road work 

 to waste. Of course a reason for this might be 

 found in your going out pretty much at the hours 

 when jockeys are in great demand on the training 

 gallops, but that does not really account for the 



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