THE "INSTRUCTION" GAG.

NZ Truth, Issue 131, 21 December 1907, Page 2

THE " INSTRUCTION " GAG.

It is a very common occurrence nowadays if a horse is just beaten m a race for the owner .to blame the jockey, by asserting that he did not ride to orders. What is the use of orders anyhow ? A trainer or owner can certainly explain to a jockey any peculiarity of the horse and how he likes to be ridden, but the cramming of confusing instructions into the brain of a jockey is a silly proceeding on the part of any owner or trainer, because no man can tell how a race is going to be run or where a horse may be forced by the field. For instance, a rider may be instructed to jump off and win his race from end to end, but may not get going as quickly as his neighbors, and may get shut up m a packed body of horses, and cannot get forward or backward until it is too late. And when the jockey happens .to be thus hemmed iii, it's not always easy to say whether he got there designedly or by ill-luck. Then he comes with a rush at the finish and is just beaten. The owner can then say his instructions have been disobeyed, and the jockey takes the risk of disqualification. If jockeys are liable for punishment for disobeying orders, those who are m the habit of giv- • ing voluminous and often senseless orders should also be held to answer for them. Certainly jockeys nowadays are not a good lot, but they will not be made better by confusing them with a plan of campaign before the barrier goes up. We have all heard owners and trainers excitedly instructing the jockey to "lay third till you come to the three furlong post, then come on and win" Per-

haps half-a-do;:en jockeys have the '. same orders, but they all cannot 1 hold third place till a certain point, 5 and there i.s sometimes a difficulty ; iabout coming on and winning. The ] better plan always witli a horseman of sense and ability is to let him ride his own race, and, by so doing, it is long odds that he rides the horse better that if he had his head^: filled up with orders that nine times out of ten only bother him. There is , an old yarn about an owner who reproached his jockey for not coming at the distance, but the jockey's . reply that he '-'couldn't come unless he ; left the horse behind" completely sized up the situation.