Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-18
HOW HORSE JOCKEYS
TRAIN TO WEIGHT
Dangers and Methods of Re-
ducing Flesh in Order
to Ride Races.
From Pearsnn,s Wceklr-

From PearSon's Weekly.
Were the older generation of jockeys a
stronger and harder breed than those OF
| the present day?
| This Is the question that many people
| have been asking. i'm view of the lament
| able breakdown short time ago of
| Frank Wootton due to the severe vast
| ing he had to undergo before the opening
of the season.
| The truth is. probably, that il Is not so
much difference I'm the men, or their
| stamina the change is in the methods
| jockeys now adopt i'm order to rid them
selves of the superfuous flesh that they
have put on during the winter months.
In the old days they used to walk fif-
| teen or twenty miles Il day, swathed In
| half dozen sweaters. Now 1t is Tur-
kish baths and medicines-a far more
weakening process
| 1t was this regime that killed poor
Archer. fortnight before his death he
rode in a race in Ireland at nine stone
four pounds. This was on Tuesday.
The following Thursday he rode again at
| eight stone twelve pounds. Then, on the
Wednesday following he rode st. Mirin in
| the Cambridgeshire at eight stone SIX
pounds. He never rode again. AS every
| body knows he went home In a raging
| life in a fit Of insanity.
If ever a man died for his profession,
Archer did.
Poor Luke Snowden, an elder brother
! of the famous Jem Snowden, wasted very
| hard i'm order to ride horse named Claire
at seven stone six pounds. He walked
about all night prior to the race, wearing
| four sweaters and a heavy horserug. and
| would not SO much RS moisten his lips
with drop Of water, lest he should be
| tempted to swallow some. He won the
| race but fell out Of the saddle i'm a
swoon at its conclusion. and had 10 be
carried to his bed. where he died three
days later.
| Then there is the case of Tiny" Wells.
who tainted on the race-course after
| getting down 10 five stone 1--WE pounds
| from six stone three pounds In seventeen
! hours-a seemingly incredible feat
| Sam Day. another famous old-time
! jockey, used to boast that he could Kill
| a town wasting" whatever that might
| mean. He certainly came near to killing
himself ON many occasions. for owing To
his lowered strength and vitality. due to
| the heroic methods he adopted. he met
with so many accidents while riding that
| at different times he broke practically
every bone in his body, excepting his
| right arm but including his skull and
| jaw, while one leg was fractured twice,
John Wells. the tallest and biggest
jockey who ever rode at eight stone seven
pounds used to walk twenty-five miles
| i'm four hours with four suits Of sweat
| ers on when wasting for an important
| race and live on dry toast with an occa-
| sional glassful of soda water.
| He dared not, he used to say, yield TO
| the natural cravings of his appetite, as
| upon one occasion when reduced by Sc
| we're wasting, single wineglassful OF
| sherry which he was induced to partake
| Of sent his weight bounding up by two
| pounds
| Another jockey famous I'm the wasting
line was Sam Dazzling. He kept a regular
| diary of his walks In sweaters during
: twenty-fiv years. entering up times and
distances. and on his retirement he
| found that he had totalled up just over
| 5000 miles.
Most present-day jockeys would proba-
| blv prefer to this the methods now in
| vogue although not all of them, Of
| course, rely exclusively, or even princi-
pally. on wasting mixtures and Turkish
| baths
| Otto Madden, for instance. pinned his
| faith TO open-air exercise, and plenty OF
| II and with excellent results, judging by
his performances. Yet he used to put on
flesh exceedingly fast during the win
| ter.
| Another famous jockey was discovered
one Easter Monday in heavy fannels.
| and armed with .peacock-feather tick
| Ier," chasing lot of girls on Hampstead
| Heath, and being chased by them in re-
turn Finest thing out" he exclaimed
| on being expostulated. with by friend
| ''makes you fit as fiddle