The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1908-02-28
The Old
Jockey
By Armiger Barclay
(Copyright.)

len that put an end 70 MS racing
career make him look it. 1t is many
a day since he sat in a t%wo-pound sad
die and felt the mighty asinews OF a
trained thoroughbred under him, OF
knew the fierce rush and strain OF a
Esrd-fought C
But | remember him the beau ideal
Of a medium-weight horSeman, active
and fearless; and whenever find my
self in the village where he is ending
LIES race | stop for q chat. and to
listen to his memories of the brave
lays of long ago
Tt little man receives me with the
easy. respectful manner that zones OF
association with the great ones of the
tsrf. AS he rises from the chair by
the fire his hand goes to the spot
whore his fo~elock used to grow.
.Ay, sir, eight-thirteen as I am" he
says in answer to my usual question
for he still clings to the old, daily
tabit of going to scale, and it would
~disanDoint him were / to forget 1t.
But I'm gettin' a bit suspicious OF the
scales over at the mill. It's worryin
to think that, perhaps, they're a few
Ninces out. And to be weighed Ike a
sack of -four, too! Times have
changed"
/ watch his eyes go sadly to the
corner where his six-ounce riding
boots-very old, but newly polished
stand with the trees in them; then to
l. - ro o;pr cnIlfn on ifc bracket
and the double-reined snafie bride
that hangs below it. The leather is
glossy with soft zap, the stirrup-
irons and bit as bright as new silver.
The gear wouldn't be safe to ride in
after 20 years of disuse, but that never
occurs to the old jockey. They get
their weekly attention in readiness for
the mount that viii never come.
1.-THE weather, tool" he goes on.
Here's the first July meeting comm
on and I'm covered up in fannels as if
I was going for a sweat up the Lime
kilns! Seems strange to be sittin'
over the fire at midsummer and read
in OF a cold Ascot, don't it, sir?"
"A strange Ascot altogether, Tom,
l agree.
He purses his thin lips severely.
"Ah, sir, you may well say that when
the gold cups took from under the
very eyes of the rolicc and the stew
ards. Such a thing couldn't have hap.
pened In my time. The gold cup!" he
gasps. 81 should have liked to see the
race for it, though. The horses seem
to have made a good finish of it."
And the riders l suggest.
"Oh. the boys" he corrects. He al
way speaks Of ~present-day jockeys as
boys. II don't know about them. l
don't hold, and never shall, with a
stirrup-leather six inches too short.
Yes, sir, l know what you're goin' tc
say about Sloan and the rest; but they
had the pick Of the mounts and would
have get winnin' brackets whether
they rode short or long. Go anywhere
and watch a start, as / did two years
ago, and see how helpless every
blessed boy is directly his mount
gives him any trouble. And then
when the flag falls-or this new cato
thing starts them. Hardly a one with
his horses hind legs properly under
him! As for gettin' the last ounce cut
of an animal at the finish, how's it
possible to hold him together, to feel
his heart beatin' through the saddle
flaps, to nurse him and push him when
you can't get your legs down to grip
and squeeze until you and the horse
are part of M a~nothcr?'
The American seat is the old jock
ey's ret aversion.
"Bumpin' and borin', this White
Knight and the French horse? OF
course they were-both of en-" he
proceeds. What else can you expect
when their jockeys are crouchin' over
their hcrses' ears without any pur-
chase on the reins? What's to pre-
rent one of 'em savaging the other
ws.e- there's nothin' controllin' his
mouth? ?"
In his day he has been at grips with
old John Osborne, and Custance, and
the Chalioners. He has fought a ding
dong finish against the ~redoubtable
Tom Cannon, laid neck-to-neck with
the "Tinman," and if anyone should
know the whole art of riding it Is he
That's what stops EN-. I get that
rfled. sir, when l read about horses
bein' pulled, l can't tell you! Wiz
wants to pull a horse when the easies.
a to make him lose is to ride him
with a slack rein? Just think for {
moment. The breeds always improv
In, and yet, times are no faster thar
they were in my day. And why? Be
cause it's the horses who do the racin
by themselves. With this American
seat they get no help from the chaps
on their backs."
Only those who have worn silk have
q right to argue the debatable ques
ton. avoided it by asking the ole
jockey whether such a charge as tina
made against Stern grasping his OPP
p~onent's leg has ever come under hi.
own notice.
NO." he says: though l shouldn't
- surprised if he did. He probably
sawed himself from falling of tina
way! But I've seen a Jockey get hi.