Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, March 18, 1897. LICENSING JOCKEYS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 347, 18 March 1897, Page 4

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, March 18, 1897. LICENSING JOCKEYS.

The conduct of jockeys is a subject that has given the governors of racing no end of trouble since racing has been called the Sport of Kings, and the matter has been brought under our notice in consequence of statements freely circulated that the Auckland Racing Club had refused to issue a license to a well-known jockey, and had refrained from stating reasons for withholding the license. It is clearly within the power of any of our metropolitan clubs to do so, and the precedent has been made by the English Jockey Club as well as by those Australian institutions, the Victoria Racing Club and the Australian Jockey Club. In England a few years back the best interests of the Turf were seriously menaced by the dishonest conduct of a combination of jockeys. Public and owners were alike at their mercy, and the combination defied the vigilance of stewards, who although certain that systematic dishonesty was being practised, were unable to sheet home distinct charges. The matter was serious, and so threatened the popularity of the sport that it became necessary to do something effective, and it occurred to the English Jockey Club that they had the power to deal with the difficulty. If they were unable to sheet home distinct charges they had the power to grant licenses to whom they pleased, and to refrain from doing so to any jockey who was not above suspicion, without stating a reason. Undoubtedly that action has done much to purify the Turf, and it is well here in Auckland that our metropolitan club has

a power which, wielded wisely, can only be productive of good. One of the jockeys in England who was astounded at the non-issue of his license was the celebrated Charles Wood. That was nearly nine years ago, but no later than last year his application for a license was again refused. The stewards of the English Jockey Club have, however, at last been induced to temper justice with mercy, and late cable news is to the effect that Woods has at last succeeded in gaining a license. The lesson has been a severe one, for Woods, if not the foremost, was certainly one of the leading jockeys of England, and the withdrawal of the license meant not only an aspersion upon his character, but a loss of thousands of pounds that he would otherwise have earned at his profession. It is to be hoped that the lesson will reach far beyond Woods and England, and that here in New Zealand our jockeys will recognise the fact that it is necessary that they shall be above suspicion. It does not follow that because an offence I has not been followed by immediate punishment that they have escaped. Suspicion may hover over the head of the offender until at last his application for a renewal of his license is politely refused. It is not only the jockey’s conduct in the saddle that should guide the licensing stewards, but also his character otherwise, for certainly a card sharper or a frequenter of places of evil resort is no fit person to hold a jockey’s license. If it is necessary that a jockey should appear in clean raiment on a racecourse it is surely far more desirable that his character should be clean. These are not idle words, and we can say on undoubted authority that our metropolitan club has some jockeys already under surveillance, and should some of them deviate from the ways that are straight they will find their license missing.