Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-24
Bv a Race Track Veteran.

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Pretty melancholy job. this thns Oh
being ruled off the turf It's business
calculated to take the spine ana the
SUNK out of most fellows VINO eo
through the experience. It's particu-
larry hard wallop for man 10 enoure
who's been at the game one way or All
other, all his life. like this laWer VINO
got the can the other day. Inc ruieo-
off one nowadays nearly always Is de-
barred the privileges of the tracks-that
Is he can't even buy his way into any
of the tracks, even to see EN- run. II )
rannv enough for a bookmaker. or owner,
or trainer, or Jockey, merely 10 pe pre-
vented from engaging in the race Iach
activities that he's used to and that ne
makes a business of; but to nave the
door of the whole game shut in his teeIh'
To he absolutely prevented from circu-
latine around the tracks even as a. mere
looker-on, that's the blow that gives DAD
his floating rib. 1t grinds the ruleo-oIl
ones to the marrow. I've watched niany
a one shrivel under it, and know.
The regulars main fear of sickness Is
that tossing him on the nat Oh MS oaeh'
it keeps him away from the track. why
1 know a. regular, still in the game VINO
once came near letting himself go stone
blind because he couldn't and woulon
snare a week from the game. some
thing serious allied his eyes and the ocu-
iist told him that he'd have to be operat-
ed ON to save his sight. He Kept put
ting II off and off, be cause the operation
would involve his remaining at nome IN
a dark room for week. Against .he
protests of the man who was treating
his ewes, he deferred the operation untll
the wind-up of the New York racing
season. 1t was all but too late them ana
the oculist had to fight to save the reg
ular about half Of his sight, ana .le
hug had to stick around in a black DARK
roon for four straight months. at that.
When YOU were kid did you ever pack
buckets of water for the circus eiephants
all day long on some lazy puH OF
keepers word that you'd pc aomllleo 10
the show at night, and then when you
turned I'D at night for the slide in get the
boots from that same keeper? Uh-huh!
Well. that's kind of the way the ruled
off chap feels about It, only Win more
of a muchness.
The poolrooms don't take the place OF
the tracks for the fellows who've been
right contiguous to the real thing all
their lives. Fellows graduate from the
poolrooms to the tracks, but not back to
them from the tracks. It's not the same
old thing. playing 'em in the rooms. The
poolrooms haven't any waving lnnelo
grass. They haven't any merry. chirky
grand stand bands. The poolrooms. TO
a ruled-off one who's been used always
to the tracks, feel like poker played LOT
rim tags or milk tickets or frijoles might
feel to a man used to playing $lOo nnht
for a couple of hours every night before
going to bed
rye known ruled-off ones to voyage
down to the tracks every day, regularly,
lust to hang around outside, peeklns
through the Stats, and sort of making be-
lieve that they were still swaddled up IN
the old game. A few of the ruled-on ones
have gone to England or France TO folio"
the game. Being ruled of on TINS SIDE,
they couldn't participate in any of the ac-
Invites of racing in Europe-act, mean,
as layers, or trainers. or anything OF mat
sort-but they could get through the gates
of the European tracks ana bet on the
horses. But this sort of thing never an
sWers for a regular who's been used 10
the way of doing things on this side, and,
ANYHOW. abroad the down-set ones missed
the companionship of the bunch with
whom they'd trained for many years.
It's the rappy stuff, too. for a jockey
tn be ruled off. It's such punishment
that you'd naturally think that no whihet
of a bow or boy-man. even with a Whit
fet's lack of gray matter, wouio take
even a long, long chance of having that
thing happen to him.
The kids know what that means. no
matter how naturally stupid they may De.
They know that it's the end OF all THINGS
so far as they are concerned. 1hey Know
thew chuck the chance they've all got to
con thousands and tens of thousands or
SQUARE money out of the old thing before
they get too heavy to ride any more Even
making due allowance for the thickness
of the great majority Of jockeys, It's
hard to work up any sympathy for them
when they get themselves ruled off
deliberate crookedness. whether
voluntary or inspired. And there isn't
any more measley figure OF misery than
votr ruled-off Jockey. Nobody pays any
attention to him where, before he got
himself into the down-and-out mess, he
was fiattered and cajoled and handled
generally like a sure-enough somebody.
Ruled off, he's just a weaZened Sniveling
of a man or boy, a dog s-eared
or corner-torn card in the game. a whim-
perer whose squeaks go unregarded every
where. a blown-about piece of the debris
Of racing.
The ruled-off one who's wise keeps his
head closed. He doesn't f1ack his arms
and try to draw a crowd to listen to his
woes Whether he's had a fair shake
or not, his only chance is to gulf the
little old bolus and look as contented as
he knows how to. The man who was
ruled off the other day let slip the squeak
that he was going to see to it. or try to
see to it, that racing is ''stouped'' around
New York next season, and all similar
like that. Adipose chance he's got. hey?
And what good did that bleat do him? It
didn't scare or stampede anybody. and
only got him the husky hoo-hoo. Racing
may be stopped" everywhere some time
but he won't be the stopper. He might
Just as we'll try to stop little girls from
playing Jacks on their front stoops.
Other ruled.oh ones threaten to take