The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-03-20
By William n. BOOKER, Jr.

Of the present day are not as good as
those OF the past is apparent even to the
most nnsophistieated mind. In older
times the boys holding contracts for large
retainers were better judges Of pace
obeyed instructions more closely, and
tried harder TO reach the judges stand in
front were the mount a rank outsider or
the public's choice than the present-day
jockey. Pulling and foul riding were COM
paratiyely unknown.
Had jockey OF the old school pulled a
horse or otherwise contrived TO make his
mount lose injuring his chances in any
form, As the jockeys nowadays do. his
employer would have pulled him off and
given him the most severe punishment a
lad ever had.
The short-distance races OF to-day have
much TO do with the difference in the
quality OF the riding, but the boys Of
twenty years ago, when racing was at its
height on the metropolitan tracks and in
the West, seemed to be better judges Of
pace, and they knew when TO husband the
stamina Of the thoroughbreds they were
astride. In the racing Of the present
time 1t is a case of going to the starters
gate. jockeying for a position 10 beat the
barrier, getting the best Of the break by
a couple of lengths The rider OF to-day
doesn't know what 70 do in such cases.
He Immediately takes his mount back TO
the rest Of the field and lets him race
The rider OF the old school would take
advantage OF beating the barrier and he
would set sail and let the field catch him
IL il could. The idea is what is the use
of beating the barrier If you are going 10
take your mount back TO his field? Should
a rider beat gate to-day, he is fined by
the starter. There should be some other
method used, for the reason that that is
what the jockey is paid for. Every train
er viii tell a rider, when giving instruc-
items. TO so over to the post and get Of in
front If he can. Should the jockey be a
bad post rider. no owners or trainers will
engage him 10 ride their horses. What
the people want are good post riders II
the starter fined him every time he beat
a barrier, the Jockey would become timid, /
because the starter Is taking away his
earnings The poor boy may have
mother and a family to support Much
OF the ignorance on the part of the midg-
cts Is brought about by the owners. train
ers, and stable foremen, who have never
been riders themselves. The majority Of
them' in many cases have followed some /
other business for a livelihood. For in
stance. a butcher. baker. waiter, boot
black or a cigarmaker The WRITER at
one time worked for a well-known owner |
a..
who followed the aforementioned vocation |
for living in Troy. n. Y, before enter |
ing the sport OF kings. Strange to say, he |
Is one Of the most successful Of the own /
ers who have been racing on the Coast !
for the past four years II is out of the /
question for some of the present-day |
trainers TO teach. or even try TO instruct, /
a green exercising boy, whose ambition it
IS 10 some day sport the silks. with a rep :
utation similar to that OF Snapper Garri-
son, Jimmy Mclaughlin, Tod Sloan, Wal
ter Miller. Grover Cleveland Fuller, and /
others. for the simple reason that they do /
not know the first rudiments of the rae
ing game. Get off in front and stay
there" is about all the present-day train
er viii give a boy for his final instruc-
tons. This at times happens in some Of
the richest stakes run in this country. OF
course, the rider sometimes tries to do
what he is told. where. if told to use his
own judgment, he would probably have
landed his mount home In front IN place
Of being beaten, if the horse does not
happen to be right on edge for a hard
race, being a trihe short which is the
whole story in nutshell in the majority
of the cases where the blame is laid to J
The jockey Of the stable. He cannot al !
ways depend on the skill of the rider to {
land his entry home a winner =
The trainer, as well as the jockey, {
should use some judgement. The pace c
should be graduated SO as to fit the con [
ditions Of the horse and the rider. The {
fight to come "the nearest way home" is I
what loses many rider a race that he '
tries to win. The style o. riding and d
the conditions Of the races have A
changed together with the horse. At II,
the same time, these points are all essen +
tiaL Jimmy Mclaughlin observes them. +
They are not foreign 20 Fred TareI. Tom c
my Burns. Winnie O'Connor now train c
ing a stable IN Germany. and a host Of n
other stars who might be mentioned 4
1t is true that America leads all other Y
on the face of the map for her B
horses. She also leads in the class of 3
jockeys. Tod Sloan. not so very long ago. IN
electrified the United Kingdom and lot
France. when he introduced the American il
style Of riding The foreign owner was n
greatly amazed and amused at first at "
seeing Sloan ride his early races. or r,
course the foreigner had never seen a N
Jockey ride with the short stirrup, seated fl
Il mOnkey-like fashion, to the English W
rainer. / have been told by riders who ia
nave returned from abroad that when hi
hey mount a foreign horse the animal il
yets fearfuIly nervous and Iunges ana liz
1lunges and tries to lay down from Ii
right, never having had an American ii
ockey on his back. The animal is not cl
lsed 10 the short stirrup. always having
lad the English leg dangling at the sides.
There has probably never a year passed il
ince Sloan's invasion of the foreign turf r
hat some young rider has not crossed Dc
he pond and earned a reputation some u
7hat similar 10 that of the peerless Tod. ST
Probably the greatest jockey that the in
ountry ever produced was the negro ae
saac Murphy. a native of the blue pi
rass" regions Of Kentucky, the home Of CT
he thoroughbred. He first came into tr,
when under contract Ia the H.
able of Hunt Reynolds He next found lal
nployment with the stable of Johnson & hi.
hurehHl, for whom he rode such noted sci
oyses as Ben dor, Little Ruffan. and w
b joseph HaWley. But with the stable do