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Show j t A MARVELOUS 0ljKi JOCKEY i - Only 16 years old and earning nearly as much money as tha president of the United States! This is the accomplishment accomplish-ment of little George Odom, the best lightweight jockey in America, who has been engaged by William C. Whitney Whit-ney to ride for him during the next three years. Mr. Whitney agrees to pay this child $10,000 annually in that time, in addition to which there is the regular $25 fee of the jockey club for every winner landed and $10 for every loser. Odom, at the same time, can ride' for other owners, and such is his skill that a present of several hundreds hun-dreds of dollars will frequently be made him for winning a race, and the lad's brother, who trains him, expects ex-pects that Georgo will make more than $50,000 a year all told. Many a boy will envy the lot of George Odom. and, perchance, strive to emulate him, but before doing so let him stop and think of the life this jockey leads. When, mounted on a AHA Gecrge Cdom, the Best Lightweight Jockey in America. I : great powerful race ho.rse like Mesmerist, Mesmer-ist, young Odom canters out on the track invariably a gasp of amazement and pity is' heard from the grand stand. The eyes of every woman are turned on this little fellow with a baby face, and the wonder is that he can. even maintain his seat. There are, perhaps, fifteen horses in .the race with combinations of jockeys, ' skilled and unprincipled, whose object is to get Odom "in a pocket" or crush him against the rail anything to. prevent pre-vent hini from winning. But this lad is not to be intimidated and will take any chance. Thousands of persons all over the country are betting on his horse, oftentimes only because Odom is the rider. The instructions are too "take the rail" at all hazards, and this is one of the most dangerous feats in turf riding. It means that with horses tearing tear-ing along like mad all about him, and purposely blocking him off. that he may not get the most advantageous position. The jockey must guide his horse to the rail and. if necessary, force him in between the rail and another an-other mount, whereupon he is' hurled against the staunch wooden fence with such force that one can. almost hear his bonep crunching. After "taking the rail" a boy will often be practically paralyzed for days and the whole side of his body discolored. George Odom is one of the fesv jockeys jock-eys who will take the rail, and the betting world know this." Moreover, he weighs but eighty-seven" pounds and keeps in splendid training. Like the other boys he must go to bed. at 8 o'clock every evening, attend church on Sundays, use r.o tobacco- or alco-; alco-; holic stimulants and continually take long walks in heavy clothes in order-to order-to keep down his flesh. He spends his evenings quietly reading seme good novel cr a history and is a. modest, unassuming un-assuming little fellow whom association associa-tion with the racing track has not contaminated. con-taminated. He is a Georgia boy by birth and has all the pleasant little courtesies and manners of the south. |