The Irish standard., 1908-03-07
BUT few ARE SAVING.
Easy Come, Easy GO, the Rule
With Jockeys.
Some Who Have Made $4,000
a Year Now Borrowing.

"A couple of weeks ago at thc Los
Angeles track / was maced for a zWel
bone note by little sad mite of I: man
who only few years ago used to have
columns about his midget personality
in the sporting page every few days
said Il horsenan just back from the
Coast to a New York Sun reporter
II made it ten spot, because the sight
of the little shabby snooZer down to
that stage of it made me bit gulpy.
/ knew that he'd anble right over to
the books and bet the ten in two buck
instalments, but that made no differ
ence-I couldn't help but feel sorry fur
him. He bet it all right in the two
spot allotments, and he didn't snag a
win out of it either. But that wasn't
little mite of Il down and outer-he
isn't much past his majority now-Was
& noted jockey only a few years ago.
He wasn't the actual premier of any
year, but lie was among the first flight
cracks Of the pigskn, and $4,000 a
year wasn't any unusual yanlldown for
him.
But he wouldn't behave. He fell
to fumbling with the old juice that
throws SO many of 'em. He got his
monkey eyes on the shapcly ones of
the eXtravaganzas. He drifted into
shady turf company, and these drift
wood characters of the game bled him
and then showed him the profit he
could snag out by indulgng in the
strong arm riding business.
He began pulling them, discreetly at
first, and then in so raw way that he
wouldn't mind grabbing them almost
he got the mallet. He was ruled off
There was never any chance for him to
be reinstated, even if his habits hadn't
become impossible. And so now he is
Il shabby, notified faced, cigarette cat
ing, whSkey consumed, miSerabe little
portion of II man shambling around the
Coast tracks, boning old friends for the
little notes-this boy in his four or
five years of riding cleaned IN some
thing like s1o5,O0O and had comfort
and opulencc for life in his hands.
"Onc day a year or so after this llia
had started to chisel himself out of the
things of life l sat alongside of him
on a parlor car going to one CT the
New York tracks. He'd ridden d lot
of horses for me and I'd known him
since his apprenticeship days. He was
at that time tossing his money right
and left. J said to him:
boy, you've got a few coppcrs tuck
cd away underneath the oilcloth on
the top Of the shelf of the cupboard.
haven't you?
"'Oh, I'm worth about eighty thou
sand right now he replied, swelling
out his weskit till it was all Of twenty
two inches i'm circumference.
"'Oh. y'are hey?' said I. Well, that's
pretty cunnn' stack of blues for a
half portion of sauce tartare like YOU
to own. isn't it? Now, how long do you
expect to go on riding and winning,
the way you're behaving?
oh. till Bill Daly's elected Prcst-
dent replied the midget. iauntily Let's
spiel about something else.
Uh-huh we'll talk about some
thing else.' ! said. but just hold on Il
minute, son. Let me slip you a word or
so. Now, what you want to do is 70
get up in time for an early breakfast
tomorrow morning. Then after YOU
have your Hamburg grapes and Span
ish mackerel and coffee and rolls YOU
want to hike right downtown to soma
reliable financial instituton-yoil can
get the right advice about that ic Vol,
look for it-and tie up say seventy five
thousand of the eighty thousand you've
got kicking around. Put that little
bundle of blue checks away in an an
nuity. Soak it away hard and tight
so that you'll never be able to loosen
j. with a machine gun. That's what
YOU want to do. Got it,?
The snoozer staked me to tile long
yawn. That's ALL And a couple of
weeks ago he maced me for = two
bucker at Los Angeles.
ITS the devil how little profit Jock
cys take from the examples OF their
predecessors who've gone down and
cut through bad behavior. There is
another one of 'em now mooching
around New York with nothing. He
was saddle wiz in his day and he
really did put away a chunk while he
was riding and getting the moncy-ia-
vested it in Brooklyn real estate. Wise
and dignified old men. owners of thor
oughbreds and millionaires on the side
had to beg this one when he was rid