Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-04
IMMENSE EARNINGS OF
THE SUCCESSFUL JOCKEYS

around New York. He was an lncom-
parably better finisher. for one thing, and
he had better idea of what a horse was
doing under him. He could place morse
in distance race and he rarely mace ms
run toe soon. When Radtke and Miller
hooked UP for tfght-f1tting finish Radtke
generally put 1t all over Miller, even When
the horse under him was inferior to Miller s.
Radtkes seat was more like Sloans IMAM
that of any other rider since Sloans day.
and he had SloanS knack of digging every
ounce out of horses that had been pre-
viously passed up punk ones.
Some turf writers whose views are on the
easy side profess to find number OF ex-
cuses for Radtke. They point~tO the fact
that the boy was deriving little or no
money from the tremendous sums he was
earning for his employers His apprentice
ship papers had been juggled around for
great sums, once being sold for $4,000, and
all the time, while Radtke was putting
winner after winner over the plate, he was
getting nothing but his S25 month appren-
ticeship coin and what presents the owners
OF the horses he won with chose to give
him. There was a first. second and third
call on his services, each call being worth
away up in the thousands Of dollars. and
yet the boy himself only got few crumbs
from the enormous amounts he actually
earned by his own skill. All of this was
worked up into curious mass Of sophistry
by some of the turf writer's who professed
TO find In 1t an excuse for Radtkes al
legged crookedness. The same thing, how
ever could have been sag for any NUMBER
of young jockeys who In previous years got
themselves into all sorts of trouble through
a sufficient excuse for dishonesty. on the
turf or off Of It. there wou.dn be enough
law in the world to hold one-tenth OF the
poverty stricken ones down. Radtke tlme
was coming moreover He was only
youngster, ard most jockeys have to go
through this gruelling period when their
big earnings are incontlnently 'sw1ped py
the men who gave them their first chance
to ride. When the boy who gains success
in the saddle has the foresight and the
gumption to stick to the level path I'LL ne
gets out of his apprenticeship he has every
thing his own way. Radtke wouio nave
been wholly Independent within very
short time. and the world then would have
been his oyster.
n is only fair to say, after all, that
great deal too much is expected OF THESE
illiterate little boys. They are, Tor the
most part entirey antecedentless taos VINO
are jammed into the limelight OF Dig az
fairs at a time when they might otherWlse
be playing marbles and hockey. and for
some inexplicable reason they are expected
to show the good sense and the cautious
ness and the foresight of seasoned and
grizzled grown-ups. 1t isn't in nature. They
do pretty well, considering their average
origin and lack of opportunities Ihey are
most famous and successful Jockeys or a
few years ago couldn't write his name TIL
years after he got into the saddle. He
went to night school to learn the three
Rs after he had earned-and salted-more
than 100000.
Jockeys are improving as breed all the
time. This is no doubt due to the fact that
of recent years they are surrounded by
better advisers. Considering the really de-
moralizing atmosphere in which they are
placed from their earliest boyhood. 1t is
remarkable that so many of them get by
and reach manhood in state of balance
and good sense. Danny Maher, for ex-
ample. the boy who has been riding so sue
cessfully in England during recent years,
has made q good deal of himself He has
become quite a little man, and when he
debarks from the steamer in New York
every autumn at the end of the English
racing season he sings the "cahn't' and
sive and solemn manner. Maher began as
an apprentice under the bale-stick of that
terror to apprentices. old Father BIZ
DAILY. He got dubbed good and severaIly
right along for a number of years while
in Days shed, and he admits now that
the discipline was the making of him. He
was naturally a hot-tempered and violent
lad, but most of that was batted out of him
by his riding preceptor He succeeded Tod
Sloan as the crack rider of America and
then went to Eng and. where he climbed
to the top of the Jockey perch in one sea-
son and has remained there virtually ever
since. The boy is worth $3.50 900 and a little
while back we were informed by cable that
he was engaged to marry the daughter of
an English racing nobleman. This. however.
was denied, but the mere fact that the
story printed here and abroad showed
the station Maher had attained in his bust
ness.
Taking look over the names of the noted
jockeys of the past ten or fifteen years, one
IS struck with the fact that native good
sense and self-control. or the lack of these
qualities. counted in every case toward the
success or eventual failure of the riders,
just as these characteristics count in the
affairs of men in all lines of endeavor
Fred Taral, the "Dutchman," was known
as the wise kid from his apprenticeship
days. and he proved the nickname through
out his riding career. Nary a splotch of
crookedness was ever plastered on his sad
die cloth. and he retired with a stainless
record. He rode in Germany. France and
Russia for a number of years after be-
coming too heavy to ride in American
events, and got the money right along He
owns fine hotel in Mt Vernon N Y,
now, besides plenty of profitable real estate