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GOOD RIDERS AT PREMIUM * Lack of Co-operation in Efforts to Develop Real Jockeys. 4 Trainers Favor More Races for Apprentices — Need lor Immediate Action to Improve Situation. ♦ NEW YORK. X. T.. April 7.— Throughout the racing world there is general recognition of the fact that there is a scarcity of first-class jockeys and there has been a lack of co-operation in such efforts as have been taken to increase the supply of riders and develop boys to take the place of those who are obliged to retire from the saddle because of increasing weight and other causes. The condition is worrying trainers considerably and owners have begun to realize that something must be done to encourage the right sort of boys to qualify tnemselves to earn the ample rewards that come to the honest and efficient jockey. Attempts have been made to induce the Jockey Club to give the matter more careful study, but there has been no indication of any substantial interest among the members. The organization has contented itself with making a rather superficial investigation of an applicants character, accepting the statements of the endorsers concerning his qualifications. Several of the winter tracks were conspicuously lax in the matter of granting licenses to incompetents. As a consequence there was an abundant supply of very ordinary riders and a limited number of first-class ones at the winter tracks. Every racing establishment has a number of boys serving under an apprentice contract and some trainers devote much time to the development of the youngsters. Among these apprentices are some who will never be anything more than good exercise boys, while others will prove entirely worthless about the race track. LEADING JOCKEYS WELL REWARDED. It is doubtful if there is any field that is open to boys of the age at which this training must be started which offers a greater opportunity to earn substantial amounts of money. The leading jockeys in every country have been well rewarded for the years of discipline they have undergone in preparation for their saddle days, and a great many of the greatest American trainers of the present and every other day in the annals of the turf, were riders in their youth. James Rowe, Sr., Samuel C. Hildreth, James Fitzsimmons, Jack Joyner, Max Hirsch, George Odom, Johnny Ix ftus and right on through the list there are leading trainers who were jockeys first and as such learned how to handle and train thoroughbred horses. Success such as these well known horsemen have achieved ought to prove sufficient incentive for others to make a persistent and conscientious effort to follow in their footsteps. Every horseman is familiar with the stories that have been current for years about the rigorous discipline enforced by Father Rill Daly, the preceptor of many of the most famous American jockeys. That he was a hard taskmaster is certain, but he accomplished results. Those among his apprentices who met the tests and stuck to the saddle, point today with pride to that period in their career and give the old sage full credit for the part he played in enabling them to reach the goal they have attained. APPRENTICES NEED EXPERIENCE. There never will be another Father Daly. It is not likely that his methods could be adopted these days. There are very few modern boys who would be willing to subject themselves to his discipline. But he made riders who became great jockeys and in his time there were a great many more good riders than are available now. Granting that there will be no more Bill Dalys. some other plan must be followed to augment the ranks of riders. The apprentice does not become a jockey until he has ridden a certain number of winners or ridden for a certain period of time. There is a strong sentiment among the trainers that there should be more opportunities provided for apprentices than has been customary. Experience is one of the things that count in making a jockey and that experience is most valuable wlien it has been acquired in a systematic and regulated manner. Every apprentice is at a disadvantage when he is sent out to ride in competition with the experienced jockey and the "bug" allowance of five i ounds tloes not make up for the other handicaps under which he is riding. A considerable percentage of the trainers are outspoken in their belief that there ought to be more races provided for apprentice riders in the absence of a more satisfactory substitute. Whenever a racing secretary programs a race for apprentice riders there is a protest and a wave of criticism from various sources and then- is an increasing feeling of hesitancy among officials to include an event of that kind on a card. Some of the trainers charge that a considerable part of the criticism comes from the betting element. In any event, these races for novice riders are unpopular with the public. Every experienced jockey is fully aware of his advantage over the apprentice an i the older boy frequently frightens the tyro and roughs him and his mount in a skillful way that may make it look as if the apprentice is at fault. Some o!der jockeys do not res rt to tactics of that kind, but others do not hesitate to practice every trick that they believe possible without being detected. The apprentice must learn first, the trainers assert, the confidence that is essential at the barrier and in actual competition throughout the race. That confidence, it is argued, comes more certainly when the youngster is riding against ohers who have had about the same amount of experience he has had. Eventually, as the boy develops, he has less fear of the older jockeys. There is a wide difference between the experience that the boy gains excercising horse* in morning training gallops and in acttr.-tl racing competition under colors. In the gallop the apprentice is under no apprehension that there will be deliberate inerfererx-e. because the other horses working usually are owned by the same establishment and fh trainer is not going to countenance anything that might result in injury to either bam or rider. When the apprentice has learned how t sit on his mount and has developed th* strengtli to use the reins proj erly he is ready for the more serious lessons that come only in actual racing. Every time a boy is sent out in colors he must feel that he is nearer the achievement of his hopes for a jockeys license. Many trainers contend that the apprentice races are absolutely essential to the training of their riders and they want more of them. The man in charge of a valuable lot of thoroughbreds is not likely to send a horse to the barrier, even in an apprentice race, unless he believes that horse will be carefully ridden and that the rider has the ability to win with him.
