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INCREASING WEIGHT THE JOCKEYS BUGABOO. Frank Wootton, Who Rode at 90 Founds Only a Year or Two Ago, Now Up to 116. The news that Frank Wootton, the leading English jockey, had iucreased in weight from 100 pounds until he had dilliculty doing 110 pounds at one of the late meetings in the north, marks the passing of a real good horseman and brings anew to the attention of those who are fond of the turf the fact that no calling is more uncertain than that of jockey. Several turfmen were discussing Wooton and his greatest rival, Dauuy Maher, a few evenings ago and a man who had been abroad and had seen Wootton and Maher ride out more than one Stirling finish ventured the opinion that the American jockeys longer experience alone gave him the palm over his younger rival. Maher, it is understood, finds little trouble in keeping to weight, but as the years roll by he will no doubt be tormented as were .McLaughlin, Garrison and others who preceded him in the Derby stable. McLaughlin could do 11S pounds handily until he was 33, and then he put on weight while seeming to carry no more llesh than usual. Scientists maintain that after u certain period of mans growth the bone becomes more dense and is correspondingly heavier and the experience of McLaughlin and other riders would seem to bear out the truth of the theory. It was the season he went to ride for the Western stable of Hankius and Johnson that McLaughlin, found that no amount of work under heavy clothing or wasting in Turkish baths in addition to fasting could bring him below 125 pounds. Hollow cheeked and sulTering the pangs of hunger, he went.out day after day to ride horses in such a weakened condition that lie was in no shape to do himself justice and finally he was face to face with the stern reality that his career as a rider had closed. There never was a more conscientious rider than McLaughlin and he never spared himself for quo minute. He simply grew big one winter, and yielding to the inevitable gave up the career which had won him fame second to none. His great rival. Garrison, was never the worker McLaughlin was, but he managed to keep to weight for quite a long time. He began riding later than McLaughlin, and was in the saddle when McLaughlin was training the Lorillard string of racehorses. Never considered the equal of his greatest rival as an all around horseman. Garrison could outfinish any rider perhaps that followers of the American turf can recall. Never considered a judge of pace, lie possessed in an extraordinary degree the ability to make a horse try to the last ounce of its powers in the homestretch. Nolwdy could equal Garrison in the task of rousing a tired, staggering horse in a driving finish. Crouching low in the saddle, with his whip in his left hand, he appeared fairly to lift his mount along in some of the splendid rallies from the sixteenth post to the wire. A hundred "Garrison finishes" could lte particularized, but these was one ride on Sam Bryants gelding Come to Taw at Gravesend that nobody who witnessed it will ever forget. Conn. to Taw was not a first class racehorse at any time, but for a few seconds that day he approached championship form. Under Garrisons furious fusillade of catgut and steel he seemed hardly to touch the earth and vanquished good opposition for a considerable stake, to the tremendous delight of Sam Bryant, the geldings owner, who never let a day pass until he died that he did not recount the story of how his "little boss," and the "Snapper." as Garrison is still termed, took the measure of the talent. Tod Sloan could have ridden indefinitely had he not become entangled with the foreign turf authorities, as nature provided him with almost the ideal stature for a jockey. If any fault could be found in Sloans makeup for the purpose of captious criticism it would be with the length of his logs. Tha bulk of the successful jockeys that the turf has known both here and abroad have been long or fairly long legged, though some short-legged riders have achieved fame, chief among them being Fred Tarai, who, by the way, has ouly given up the saddle at the age of forty-two after a long and honorable career in America and Europe. Tarai in his day could get about as much out of a jaded horse as anybody. He was a terrific punishcr, and like Garrison, any horse he rode a bruising finish on would need several days to recuperate before facing the starter again. Tarai enjoys extraordinary good health when tha amount of privation he suffered in keeping down to contract weight is considered. This keeping to contract means much to an employer, and some of the fashionable riders in the old davs around New York who were wont to go to the scales two, three and even live pounds overweight would get their conge in short order if they attempted such tactics in England, France or Germany, where a jockey must always be ready to ride at the weight specified in his contract. Whore valuable stakes and large wagers are concerned, every ounce of weight tolls at the finish, and nothing makes an owner more savage than to learn that his horse has lost a prize by a few inches with an overweight jockey in the saddle. A pound in a hard-fought race may figure half a length: not a great amount of space, but sullicient for the purpose of winning. Some years ago at Gravesend there was a llagrant case of a jockey abusing the confidence of his employer and incidentally causing the public to lose a lot of money in wagers. It was a stake race for two-year-olds, and one of the contestants was owned by a" New York brewer. The episode so disgusted the young owner that he shortly afterward sold his running horses and retired. The jockey in this particular instance was a negro lad who found himself in possession of more money than he had ever dreamed of having, and. being surrounded by a horde of dissipated satellites, he was hard to control and was only in good shape to vide out his engagements at times. In the race in question the colt he rode was a second choice and was only beaten by a short neck. When the jockey attempted to make weight be was not only overweight, but was found to lie carrying ten pounds more than the carded impost. How lie managed to weigh in without escaping detection will always be a mystery. The stewards to whom the incident was reported, lined the rider 00 and suspended him for a long period. The rider a long time afterward confessed to the trainer that he bad been on a carouse for the day and night previous to the race aud had put on the extra weight in that time. . Fitzpatrick, the "daredevil" of the American turf, who died several years ago, was tortured more than any other jockey in this country to keep to weight. He told the writer on one occasion that a biscuit and a glass of champagne was for periods ids only daily sustenance. Excessive reducing and living on such slim diet shortened Fitzpatricks life, for when years after he ceased riding lie was taken with pneumonia, his constitution was sapped and he died at Saratoga, where he had made his home for many years. Woottons career has been brilliant, but it will perhaps lie almost the shortest on the English turf unless all signs fail. It was only a few years ago that he was riding at ninety pounds and less and at the rate he is increasing in weight, 133 to 13C pounds will perhaps be his limit for 1913. His engagements will be correspondingly fewer and undoubtedly within the next few years he will be found following bis fathers profession of trainer and owner. Wootton has saved his money, but is not in Mahers class as a money maker, the young American being credited with being worth 00,000. The popularity of the Connecticut boy is evidenced by the fact that he has been on a yachting trip with his employer. Lord Rosebery. While the financial returns which come to a successful jockey are undoubtedly large, the dangers of of the contest are ever present and there is not much bodily comfort for the man who is fond of creature comforts. It is a life of self-denial and privation for those who would climb the ladder to the topmost rung. New York Sun.
