St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-06-01
JOCKEYS TRAINING.
Account of How the Famous Nc
LaughIin Gets to Weight,

Laughiln GerS TO w eight
How do famous jockeys live while
training? What do they do to reduce
their weight in riding? How are the
various hours of each day employed?
These and many like questions are fire.
quently asked by large class of race
goers but never have been answered
rightly. The public generally believes
that when it is necessary to take OFF
some of the surplus flesh the jockey re-
sorts to a heavy dose of medicine or
sleeps for an evening OF two under q
ton of blankets. Hence the following
account of how Mclaughlin, the noted
knight of the pigSkin, reduces down TO
115 pounds, will be found not only inter-
eSting to all but instructive to those
holding erroneous notions on the subject.
"At o'clock in the morning." as the
old song has it, Mclaughlin is called by
his valet and begins the day. A cold
water bath is the first thing in order,
and this is followed by vigorous and
thorough rubbing down. Thence he
goes to the track and spends about two
hours on horseback or walking exercise.
The morning he has horses to work he
will devote all his time to them, but on
the off days he takes to Professionalism.
Not till s o'clock does he have break
fast, and then it is modest repast, con-
sisting of two lean chops, dry toast and
tea without sugar. On this foundation
for the physical man he donS his sweat
ers. These weigh no less than twenty
pounds complete. In them he runs aud
walks a distance of seven miles. Drip
ping with perSpiration, which runs
down him in streams, and ready to drop
from sheer fatigue and exhaustion, he
returns to his rooms more dead than
alive. After being stripped as quickly
as possible he is rubbed down with all
the latest appliances known for that
purpose.
But this is by no means the end of his
ordeal. Upon being rubbed down he is
put into the blankets. and, when cooled
off. is taken out of them and given an
other bath. He then gets another hard
rubbing. When entirely dry he is again
subjected to one more thorough rub
bling, this time with a body dressing.
By this time he wishes he never was
born, and, as he is coollY contemplating
speedy suicide, he is allowed to assume
his ordinary attire and saunter around
for good part of the remainder of the
day. Frequently, however. he eXer-
cises for a good portion of this leisure
time with the boxing gloves. foils.
dumb bells, Indian clubs and other
sporting paraphernalia, with which his
rooms are adorned. He is very fond Of
these various implements, and man
FROM exercising with them, as
we'll as knocking off an occasional
pound of. flesh by the zest with which
he enters into the several pastimes rep
resented by them. His dinner, if the
slight meal he takes at l O'Clock can be
dignifed with such a name, is not quite
as liberal in character and amount as
breakfast even, while his supper is
lighter than either. Sugar, butter, po-
tatoes, soups, fats of all kinds, and, in
fact, every article of food that has any
tendency to increase ones bulk IS
sedulously eschewed. Though fonder
of coffee, he drinks tea because it has
been advised as conducive to attain his
object of making himself thinner. What
solid stuff he does eat is such that will
give the most strength for the quantity
partaken of.
When supper is over there is no sit
ting around until midnight in lily ven
tilated rooms. playing cards, smoking
and drinking, or any similar way of
passing an evening. Instead, walk in
the open air is taken, be the weather
unpropitiOnS or not, and at 10 O'Clock
Mclaughlin is once more in his bed
enjoying a good, sound sleep after his
days hard work. From the above it
will be seen that, while the days of
fashionable jockeys bathing in the sta
bic bucket are over, the life of such,
even nowadays, is not always the sine
cure and one long round of pleasure
that many imagine. Like everything
else, America is advancing in the treat
ment of Jockeys, both by their employ
ers and themselves. But the successful
ones find that to continue to be success
full they must keep up, of their own ac-
cord, even stricter discipline than that
enforced upon them in other times.
for jockeys, like every one else.