OCR Text |
Show Star Jockey Tells How He Keeps Weight Down . By Ted Koerner JOCKEYS, the sume as mon in other lines of work, have their own methods meth-ods of keeping "in form." Eiders, like boxerfy have to keep down to weight or Iobo out. In fact, we aTe compelled to stay '''bantam weights" or, giving up riding, tako to something else less profitable. I have laid out a system for myself since I entered the gamo a few years ago. Instead of lying around and taking tak-ing thingp easy when I have no engagements en-gagements on "the track, T. oithor go hunting or fishing. At even- meeting where I-havc ridden there has' been ample opportunity for one of these sports and sometimes both. I stay out of doors as much as possible, do lots of walking, eat as much as I want, and find I have no difficulty in keeping around 103 pounds. I could, of course, take on a little more, woight without hurting me any and probably will do so before I get much older. At present. I nm only 19 years of age. The lighter you are the better chance you have to win races, providing you can keep your full strength. Some riders, I have noticed, train so hardj in reducing their weight that, they take away a lot of their strength 'and ri-durance.' ri-durance.' This puts, them under, a heavy! handicap in a liard face. If, by any chance, they are mounted on a horso which ' is difficult to manage, these boj's take a big chance of losing con- j trol. Rather than reduce mvsclf by j such methods I would quit the track j for goad. . There, is no reason' for a compara-; tively light man 'to take on flesh if he rides, in an average number of racon, lives out of doors nnd takes other exercises ex-ercises besides ridipg alone. Perhaps if I didn't care so' much for hunting and fishing T would try something else. Somo men -at the tracks laugh at me when I say fishing is an oxer- cise. But when you walk several miles at a brisk pace . to - the fishing, spot, walk up and down the bank casting and working the reel eo3tantly, I claim you've pitt in a good bit of exorcise. If there aro any who doubt it lot them try this stunt' just once. When it comes, to .hunting a fellow has to cover a lot of ground if the birds or rabbits are scarce. T3von when the woods and grass are full of game, you cover a lot. of ground in a morning or an afternoon. Another thing this recreation lakes your mind off the track. A boy 'is likely to grow stale if he thinks only of riding and hanging around tho stables. Moreover, there is a tendency to sit. down and play cards or something like thai. Such doings do not. keep ;;u in shape for the hard grind of "i.ic track and have a tendency to make the j rider nervous. I've found in my comparatively short I experience that danger lurkB for the careless jockey. Although in every Tace I enter, and I've' ridden in hundreds hun-dreds this past season, I am as careful care-ful as possible. I've had some hard spills. Some have come within an ace. of costing me my life. Offhand I can't tell how ma'uy times I've been thrown, but it goes into the dozens. That. I have not had a fatal injury is due, more than anything else, to the fact that 1 try to 'keep my nerve in the most trying circumstances. Yet when your horse lalln and those behind you either jump over or brush by you, it's mighty ticklish. There "are no rules to lay down for those who arc thrown during a race. It's over, so quickly a kodak could scarcely reproduce it. Moreover, it would tako a special rule in every case. When I have gone down 1 always make strenuous efforts to keep from being pinned under the animal. Then, if I have time, 1 duck for the fence. I hava no distinct recollections of any of my spills. They pass before me like a troubled dream. r There always is the temptation of bet. ting on the racos, especially when you are as close to the ground floor as we are. Some ladB I have heard wager a good share of their earnings on the races. I have bet a little in the past, but never, except in ono instance, as much ns $5. . That time T bet that amount on a good thing at Latonia. I had been suspended on the day In question for some infringement or the rules so laid the money on another fellow. He lost. Since that day I bet very seldom and then only in driblets. |