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PRESENT DAY RIDERS HAVE COMPARATIVELY EASY TIMES Talking of jockeys generally, they live in a luxurious age as compared with their predecessors and they have not the lean, hard look of so many of the latter. According to trainers, too, laziness is the besetting sin of the present-day school of riders. Some do follow the old-fashioned way of keeping weight down, but artificial means are favored by the majority, and I have not the least doubt that constant resource to such lowers physical vitality. Poor judgment seems to be the chief charge against the riders of the time. There is a lack of ready resource to meet rapidly changing situations and of prompt action qualities which distinguish the jockey irom the mere horseman but with cigarettes taken apparently as sustenance and Turkish baths preferred to ten-mile sweats, it is little wonder that the standard of efficiency falls below the ideals of so many in the training profession who have been jockeys themselves. I well remember the Hon. George Lambton tendering some advice to young aspirants: "Work harder, walk more, smoke less; above all, never smoke until you have finished riding for the day." Every "nipper" should have that pasted in the lining of his hat. Manchester Sporting Chronicle.
