A great feat of jockeyship was that accomplished by Benjamin Smith, who rode and won a race after having one of his legs broken in the struggle. The rider of Caractacus, in a race at Bath, was so unfortunate as to break his stirrup leather, but he nevertheless defeated all his opponents, and was so clever as to bring the detached stirrup home with him, so that he was able to scale the correct weight. A clever horseman once upon a time won the St. Leger after his horse had run into a ditch, and seemed to have lost all chance of victory. George Herring, a jockey of the olden time, achieved a feat which is recorded among the miscellanea of the turf; he was so fortunate as to win nineteen races in succession, without one single intervening defeat, a triumph that we are not aware has been attained by any other jockey.
The word jockey is in itself significant. One of the meanings of it, which Dr. Johnson gives, is, "a cheat, a trickish fellow." Another meaning given is, "to jostle by riding against one." To a great many the word is indicative of some phase of knavery. "He was jockeyed out of his money," is a phrase which denotes this. There is more in these meanings than is generally supposed. Those who are not behind the scenes of turf life have in general no idea of how races are run and won. They see the horses gallop from end to end of the course, but they may not be aware that each jockey has received from his master or his master's trainer particular instructions as to how he must comport himself in the race. The rider is not allowed to ride as he pleases, but must guide his horse at the will of his master. The directions given to a jockey are sometimes exceedingly simple. "Get home first," Lord George Bentinck used to say, "and to do that make every post a winning-post." Another owner will tell his jockey to "get to the front, and keep there till you are past the judge's chair." Some masters, again, delight in complex and garrulous instructions that would puzzle the wit of an old man to understand and obey, far less a jockey-boy of probably tender years. Any lad, if the horse he rides be only good enough, may win an important race, but in the end superior jockeyship generally gains the day; and it sometimes happens that the fastest horse in the struggle is beaten by the superior acumen of the boy who rides the winner.
The talents of jockeys vary considerably. One will lie in wait with his horse and "steal" the race from his opponent so quietly and win by so short a distance as to excite wonderment as to how it was all brought about. Another boy, if he feels that the horse he is riding is equal to the task, will make his way to the front and force the race from beginning to end with, so to speak, a flourish of trumpets. All that a jockey has learned, all that he knows, must be brought into requisition in the supreme minute or two which is devoted to the struggle. If a jockey has any talent, then is the time for its exhibition. Whilst the race is being ridden the owner and trainer of the horse engaged in the contest busily survey the scene with all attention through their powerful field-glasses, so that they are able to see whether or not their instructions are being obeyed by the jockey who is riding their horse.
A jockey riding in an important handicap has need of all the firmness and nerve he can command. A moment's inattention may lose him the race; there are others quite ready to take advantage of any mistakes he may make. He must have a good head and a fine hand; with the one he examines and judges the horses which are racing alongside of him, so as to note their power and see what their jockeys are doing; with his hands he feels the strength of the animal he is himself riding, so as to be able to regulate its pace and "bring" it at the right moment for a supreme effort. Any want of ability or misconduct on the part of a jockey in the riding of a race is at once detected by the questioning eyes which are ever following him as he rushes to the goal.
What are called "fine hands" are essential to a jockey; they are the instruments which indicate to him the strength and power of the animal which he is trying to guide to victory. Some horsemen have this gift in perfection, and have known how to use it to the best advantage. Strong horses will occasionally run away with the race, leaving the jockey powerless. In such cases what can a child, weighing perhaps six stone, do but sit still? It was a maxim of a celebrated jockey that a horse ought to be ridden as delicately as if it was being held in check by a silken thread; but each jockey in time acquires a style of his own. Some lads are famous for making their opponent believe the horse they are riding is quite out of the hunt; this is "kidding," and they so act as to put the rider of what may be a superior horse off his guard, and having done so, to a greater or lesser extent, they will sometimes by a final rush (if their horse is good enough) win the race, and so obtain the credit of being brilliant jockeys. Old horsemen of the "knowing" type will try what they can with safety, during a contest, to keep their younger brethren from scoring a win, all the tricks of the trade being brought into requisition on such occasions. A first-rate jockey, however, has qualities that are far beyond the range of mere cunning; he has a firm and graceful seat on horseback, "fine hands," and, above all, he is a good judge of pace, quite able to calculate whether the horse he is riding can last the distance he has to gallop, so as to be sure of winning, or whether he will require to be eased in his pace, or "nursed" for a final effort. There are jockeys who, for sinister purposes, can make a great show of riding power, but who, for all their doing so, "pull" their horse to prevent its being first; but as a rule the morale of the modern jockey is fairly good. Black sheep are to be found in the flock, but the great majority of the public horsemen of to-day, notwithstanding what they have in their power, are beyond suspicion.
ABOUT THE JOCKEY CLUB.
I.
Although many sketches descriptive of the Jockey Club, its members and stewards, have from time to time made their appearance in sporting journals, no consecutive history of that institution has yet been published; and even were all the dribblets of information about it which have percolated through the press added together, the result would be rather bald. Till the Club itself shall put forth an account of its history, or allow some credible historian access to its archives with the view of placing before the public a full narrative of its origin and its ways and work, as also an account of the men who originated it and those who have carried it on, I despair of ever knowing more of it than I do at present. Few persons, indeed, other than those very intimately associated with the "sport of kings," know much about the interior working of what is undoubtedly the most remarkable institution of our day. Nor has it been given even to persons deeply interested in the business of the turf to ascertain with precision the varied functions of the Club, or the mechanism by which it moves. It would require the sum of knowledge possessed by perhaps a score of well-informed outsiders to make up a chronicle that would form something like a history of the institution, or supply a reliable account of its means or motives of action, or the wonderful powers with which it has endowed itself.