OCR Text |
Show H THE JOCKY. H What in the meaning of the H word "Jocky." The dictionary H before us says, "One who rides H a horse in a race ; groom ; a dealer H in horses; cheat. ;(p. pr.) to H cheat or deceive; jostle against H by riding unfairly' H 1 Judging from the exhibitions H usually seen upon tracks in H southern Utah, the hitter part of H the definition is more applicable H than the first. And the worst 1 of it is that the custom appears H to bo getting worse instead of H hotter. Further more, unless H somo radical changes are effected H along these lines, these small, B dishonest practices on tho part B of riders and horse owners are H ' going to result in the killing of H all interest in this heretofore M iwp.ular sport. H Tho fact of the matter is that H nearly all of us enjoy seeing a H good horso race -a fact that is H borne out by the number of H v people who flock out to seo them H at our meets, fairs, etc. But it H is equally true that a lot of H people aro gotting thoroughly H . disgusted with hav'f)extfc8lt B ( around at a dustu iewchJc K froih one to thraan document K ing two or three j.jiu'itf. 1 T and gain ' littilo unfair ad-P ad-P ;VHntre at tho start. B Who of our readers liavo not H felt thoroughly disgusted with H these little petty exhibitions of H dishonesty, and angry with your H: solves for giving countenance to H. it by remaining at the race track H and witnessing it. H This evil about reached its H: climax at the county fair this Hi season, when on two or three H', occasions the crowd was kopt H' for hours waiting for the start B in the various races. Nor was H' tho delay occasioned by erratic K or uncontrollable) horses. In M - reality, the horses appeared to H have far more sense than tho m ' riders, if we wero to presume M that thoy were acting in good H faith and really willing and H anxious to make a fair start. H But it was only too apparent H that this was tho very thing that H they did not want. Each one H wanted the advantage, or to balk H the race until he could securo WM such advantage. Whenever tho H horses were all in line, and a H chance for a fair and equitable H start, one or the other of tho H various "jockeys" would either H urge his animal into a run bo- H fore the line was reached, or turn H his horse's head in the opposite H direction, or in some other way H balk the start. This disgusting H performance would be repeated H over and over again, with waits H for the horse's mouths to bo H sponged out, i-osts, etc., until it H became exasperating in the ox- H tromc, and it was a wonder that H the racing committee would tol- H orato H In the North, or at tracks eon- H tiguous to any of the largo cities, H this sort of thing is not attomp- H ted, and should it be, it would H receive a very effectual check, H for tho first jockey who attemp- H td such palpable dishonesty would be at once barred. Only in small, country places, where we appear to know no better, are the people bamboozled in this way. On the Salt Lake track they will run half a dozen big races w'hlio we aro trying to start one. There you go to the track and see from six to ten races in less time than is consumed with one or two down here, and it is high time that we called a halt and took a stand for cleaner sport. We say that the betting feature fea-ture of the horse race is not one-tenth one-tenth part as bad as the "jockeying" "jockey-ing" element, which cannot fail ! to teach tho boys and men as J well, these little, dispicable, dis-, honeat practices. For heaven's sake, let's have no more of it. When there is a race meet, if a man has a good animal which ho believes can outstrip the pro-j bable competitors for a certain! distance, let him enter it, and let the race be run on its merits. But tho man who enters a horse, and then depends upon tho ability abili-ty of his "jockey" to deceive and cheat his competitors in order to win the race, is too pucilanemous and mean to engage en-gage in any form of clean sport, and ougjit to be barred from the track. It may be necessary to take drastic action in a case or two, but if this is done, wo will very soon seo a marked improvement. |