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THE MAKING OF A JOCKEY During the racing season newspaper ollices and race track otlieials are Inrsieged with emeries from youths anywhere from 17 years of age to 21 and 22 as to how they can become jockeys Invariably tin letters state that the writer is small of stature that he weighs less than 100 pounds and is willing In learn how to become one of the greatest riders In the country Little does the writer know of the trials raid tribulations through which a lad must go to become even a mediocre jockey to say nothing it Incoming one of the greatest in the country The gunoral public is also unacquainted with the fact that every small boy or young man cannot bo a srwit rider The great riders have all received their jarly training in the stables and on the track They have galloped horses since they were able to t tt IIIMIII their backs and only hard drudgery has brought them to a realization of their ambitions ami ideals A boy to be a successful jockey ma i start in at the ago o 10 to 1 years Ills first work is exorcising horses and he is kept at this until many of them lose all ambition to be a rider Moat of the Iwys chances to ride in a race are accidental He doesnt get up unless tho stable jockey is suspended or is sick and many times it is the form displayed when he has his lirst mount which determines whether ho will get many more moreKveii Kveii If he establishes the fact that he can ride his troubles do not end then He must constantly work like a beaver to keep bis weight down and the older hi grows the harder he must work In the morning he must run three or four miles bundled up in sweaters and blankets and a Turkish bath is on his daily program Not the least of the drawbacks lit blcoiniiig a successful jockey is the muscle forma j tiou A lad of 20 or 21 hasnt a chance in tho i world to make a great rider The muscles of the hack arms add hands play a groat part in the making of a jockey and they are only developed to a point of perfection by years of work When a boy reaches the age mentioned his muscles are bound In such a manner that he could not train them as In the case of a boy of 10 or 13 There aro successful jockeys in the saddle now who aro auiiy beyond the twenty mark but they have been there practically since infancy Shilling the great ¬ est rldir In America today started when he could hardly waddle across a Hold His father was a jockey and his brother preceded him In the saddle o tont It looks very nluch as though hereditary traits play an important part in the making of a jockey Cincinnati Enquirer
