Wallowa chieftain. [volume] (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909, 1902-04-17
TRIALS OF JOCKEYS.
UNDERGO HARDSHIPS IN ORDER
TO WIN SUCCESS.
Many English Riders Nearly Starve
Themselves Through Most of the
Year in Order TO Keep Their Weight
Dowu-Their Remuneration.

A recent article in the English I'll
lustrated Magazine" gives a number
of details concerning jockey life that
proves that no outsider can have any
idea of the tortures which the heroes
of the EPSON Derby and of the
Prince of Wales stake are obliged to
intiict upon themselves for the honor
of their profession.
Some put ON five suits of clothing,
and run distance of four miles. after
which they stimulate the perspiration
induced by their exercise by exposing
themselves for several hours TO the
heat of an immense fire.
Others prefer to abstain from food.
John Arunll, an English jockey. be-
ing obliged to get rid of at any cost
of an excess of six pounds which would
have debarred him from taking part
in an important race, picked out eight
apples, and for the eight days preced-
ing the race lived upon absolutely not
Il thing else.
Thanks to this regimen, which was
adhered to even to the exclusion of
drinking pure water, he attained his
object.
Apart from the periods when eXcep-
tional fasts and various methods of
artificial perspiration are necessary,
the best means for a jockey of long
retaining his place on the turf is to
accUstom himself from an early age
to eat and drink very sparingly. From
the month of March until the end of
the autumn, John Crockers, another
well known jockey, adopts diet COM
posed of a small piece of bread and
butter and a cup of tea for breakfast,
for dinner very small piece of fish,
and a small one of plum-puddlng ta-
ken without other beverage than the
inevitable cup of tea, which is des-
tined to simplify the work of diges-
tion-already only too simple it would
seem to the laity.
AS for supper, it is, during the rae
ing season, eliminated from the life of
the talent" Only during December,
January, February is it that the mod
ern Tantalus may listen to the prompt
ings of his stomach. At the very first
approach of spring the neXorable ty-
ranny of weighing resumes full sway
and heroic remedies are resorted to in
order to melt the too solid flesh ac-
quired during the winter
A means of livelihood which con-
demns man to starvation during the
greater part of the year does not seem
calculated to attract many followers;
yet there Is no such crowded profes-
sion us that of jockey. Every year
sees hundreds of English boys of about
II soliciting any employment, however
humble, under the celebrated train
ers. 81. l
70 counterbalance the hardships of
II Jockeys life, his pay is extremely
remunerative. Indeed, scarcely any
other road to fortune is so rapid. 1t
is not unusual for a young man of 20
10 earn from four to five thousand
dollars year. In ordinary races, the
winning jockey receives $25 and the
others SIS The emoluments of trial
race are only fifty francs, but all these
small sums accumulate rapidly in the
course of a year. Even a third or
fOurth-rate man Is sure of ample
means of existence, and one who has
made a name for himself, and has the
luck to win three or four big races,
makes about $4,000 a year, without
counting the accessory gifts which al
most every celebrated jockey has show
cred upon him. The well known Fred
Archer for instance, received in a sin.
gle week three diamond scarf pins
year won the Epson Derby, on that
occasion received $4,000 worth of
bonuses of various kinds, besides a
large quantity of jewelry from various
grateful women bettors. Nor Is the
wealth accumulated by jockeys nova
days anything but fairly earned one
according to the optimistic belief OF
John Crockers. who furnished most OF
the information for the illustrated
Magazines article. THE days of cor
upton have passed." he says. "and the
> lurf Is to-day above reproach." He
admits that it was not always so, anG
that he has frequently known jockeys
TO hold back a horse. whilst seeming
TO ply him with the whip; the strokes
falling on the riders own boots-a
trick which, he says. 1t is impossible
10 discover even by the use of the bes
L 4
punctilous have jockeys become thai
they even refuse to give tips" to theil
best friends.
}. CANNED HORSE.