New Britain Herald Newspaper, September 23, 1926, Page 19

MONG the real, honest-to-good- A ness men’s jobs there are only a few that women haven’t conclu- ely proved that they could fill and 1l very well, too, but there is still left the job of being a jockey, the profes- sional riding of race horses. The fact that women are not yet com- d peting with men on the race tracks isn't due to any lack of women who are sure that they would make first class jockeys and are eager for a chance at the job. It all the fault of the stern officials of the jockey clubs who continue to frown on women's aspirations to ride race horses. There are undoubtedly many women who would like very much to become jockeys and are comvinced that they could pilot a race horse around the track as skillfully as any man. This is only natgral since women are taking such a great interest in riding and racing and it has become quite the thing for society women to have their own stables and race their horses under their own colors. Why is it that women aren’t welcomed into the field of race horse riding as they have been in so many other fields where men have long been supreme? It is not because there is any over supply of ockeys. On the contrary, there is al- ways a shortage of good riders. About the best news that stable owners could hear would be that a new jockey had proved his ability to ride a horse to vie- tory. Even a fairly good jockey thakes a 4alary of $15,000 a year and the stars like Sandy and Fator can command al- most any salary. No, the reason why women haven’t entered this field is because so-called experts are still convinced that women are by nature unfitted t6 ride in a pro- fessional race in competition with men. A woman who recently tried hard for a chance to prove this idea untrue is Mile. Fanny Heldy, French grand opera star. Mille. Heldy has long been a race track fan and an owner of famous thoroughbreds, but she grew tired of merely watching her horses run. She wanted to ride them herself and she felt sure that she would make just as tal- ented a jockey as she is a singer. So she appeared before Count Paul de Pour- tales, the newly elected president of the French Jockey Club, and begged for a license to ride. Count de Pourtales considered Mlle. Heldy's request very seriously, but he was obliged to turn her down because he said he must act in keeping with the traditions and policies of the celebrated French Jockey Club. In his opinion, he said, women lack the strength to stand the strain of professional riding. In England the racing authorities are of much the same opinion and though women have participated in races ‘for over 100 years it has almost always been in races exclusively for women. Last year Miss Eileen Joel, daughter of the South African mining magnate, proved her ekill and ability by riding her horse to victory and winning the Newmarket Since that time the Jockey Club has been deluged with requests from women who want to be professional jockeys. sh racing authorities feel that women aren’t by nature jockeys and they are by no means ready to grant them a license. They doubtless have in mind the precedent of the late King Edward who felt so strongly on the mat- ter that he threatened to bar all women from riding astride in Hyde Park. In this country it is not unusual for a horse show or society race meet to feature a competition be- tween non-professional wom- en jockeys. The latest race of this kind was held only recently at the fashionable Brookline, Mas- sachusetts, track. Girl jock- eys actually rode in this race and it proved one of the fast- est and most thrilling events that the fans have been treated to in a long time. The participants were a group of expert Boston horse women who have been riding like most society girls since they were children. Miss Beatrice Howell, known as one of the most experienced horse women in the country, came in first. Miss Peggy Porter and Mrs. K. Howard won second and third places. These aristo- cratic young ladies aston- ished the spectators not only by riding their own horses but by appearing in regula- tion jockey apparel. There have been many such contests in this country and race track fans have be- come accustomed to seeing voung women in these ama- teur races. Even in the da when women rode in side saddles they insisted on rac- ing. But even though a few American society girls have dis- tinguished themselves as amateur jockeys the day of the professional woman jockey in the United States seems far, far away. Why can’t women ride race horses as well as men? Is the idea that they can’t just a masculine say- ing that women are physically inferior and will always have to be known as the weaker sex and yet after people had talked themselves hoarse about the su- periority of men in the water along came Miss Gertrude Ederle to prove by conquering the English Channel in rec- ord time that the world was very badly mistaken on this question of superiority. Miss Ederle’s feat has proved that women have just as much strength and endurance as men so why is it that the lords of “the turf deny®women jockeys licenses? It is, authorities in the matter say, largely because of women’s dimpled knees that artists and poets rave over Racihg Expefi‘é Declare Such a Thing Quite Impossible---but Didn’t Many People Also Say On the left—MlIle. Fanny Heldy, the French oper- atic star who wants to be a jockey but can’t induce the Paris Jockey Club to permit her to ride Could Ever § NoWoman e Swim the Channel? Miss Eileen Joel on “Hogier,” the horse she rode to victory in a race at Newmarket, England, where all the jockeys were women Misc Joel is the daughter of S. B. Joel, the millionaire sportsman, and as enthu- siastic a fol- lower of rac- ing as her father and showmen have featured in the chorus. Men’s knees are lean and flat but women’s are curved and dimpled and well cushioned with fat. Women's knees are beautiful, but they never were meant for riding race horses for the Yeason that they can’t grip. The fat rolls and slips and the fair rider of a fast horse is quite liable to find herself out of the stirrups and over the head of her mount. The trick of riding a race horse i. the feat of pinching the withers with the knees. A rider can stick on his mount just as long as his knees do not slip. Even a very thin woman cannot acquire this knack because all women have knees that curve deliciously and yet detrimentally to the job of riding a race horse. Copyright, But there is still hope for the de- termined women who aspire to com- pete with men as professional jockeys. Wilfred P. Pond, sporting editor and authority on racing, explains just how it may come about that girls some day will be licensed jockeys. There is, he says, a kind of riding known as balance riding which every day is better and better thought of. A rider of this school does no! grip his mount but depends on balancing his body in such a way that he can stick on even in a fast race. The best known ex- ponent of this kind of riding is the Prince of Wales. Mr. Pond says that in balance riding a rider does not fall with his horse but is thrown clear from his mount and is thus more likely to escape injury. This explains why the heir to the British throne long ago wasn’t crushed to death in one of his many tumbles. In this kind of riding expertness would no longer depend upon lean knees and a woman with a particularly femi- nine pair of knees wouldn’t have to for- feit her ambition to become a race horse rider because of them. Of course, many people might think that the Prince’s way of riding was not the best in the world and that a girl rider learning that method would be likely to find herself laid up with a broken limb almost half the time. But even if the Prince has taken many tumbles it must be said in his favor and in behalf of the balance way of riding that the Prince is one of the most dar- ing horsemen in England and he takes more chances than any jockey takes in the average race. And balance riding dn flat racing is not a bit more perilous than the older method of griping the withers, authori- ties say. In fact, a jockey who acc toms himself to balance riding would probably be far less likely to be injured because if his horse stumbles there is little chance of his falling under it. But the life of a jockey even though the privilege of riding race horses is granted to women is hardly anything to be coveted. Think of Mile. Heldy who usually breakfasts about noon in a lace and satin trimmed boudoir getting up at dawn in all kinds of weather and hurrying out to a stable. For those are the rules. A jockey must get up with the sun and then he Johnson Features, Inc. Mlle. Heldy in her racing stable with one of the thoroughbreds she would like so much to ride to victory on a Paris track must ride—and not down the park bridle path but around the track in even the bleakest kind of weather. First he has to learn to gauge time without a watch. The trainer says, “Ride the first furlong in twelve seconds and the second fur- long in thirteen seconds.” Then there is the serious question of weight. Every jockey knows what it is to be steamed and rolled and starved before a big race. If he is much over ninety-seven pounds he may find him- sclf sprinting ten miles every morning with six sweaters on his back. If he is still overweight he may be put to bed and wrapped with scalding sheets even in the hottest weather. If Mile. Heldy did ride and perhaps should win a race, she couldn’t have a midnight supper with champagne and other rich viands as she can after a tri- umph at the opera. For if a jockey dis- sipates the s tell the sad story the next day and he is put through all kinds of torture to get back to normal. If like Mile. Heldy American girls should become more and more persistent to engage in professional riding there are many spirited society girls whom one can think of off hand that would no doubt make very creditable jockeys. There are many girls in this country, even gitls of ten years or less, who do ng stunts in the way of horsemanship. It is not at all unusual at the horse shows to see a girl with braids down her back taking the high jumps with the greatest confidence and poise. So many of the society girls start rid- ing on ponies soon after they learned to walk and thus at an early age have become accustomed to all the feats Naturally now that they have all the preliminaries in this sport they want to actually enzage in professional riding, in other words, be- Among the foremost of those who would be clamoring for licenses one can imagine pretty Fifi Widener Leidy, the daughter of Joseph Widener, of Phila- delphia. Mrs. Leidy is an expert horse woman and a very spirited girl with courage and pluck enough, her friends think, to ride the fleetest race horse. This year she figured prominently in the Saratoga races as a race horse owner. Laddie, because of his popular owner, has had many bets placed on his chances to win. Another woman who Is greatly inter- ested in horse racing is Mrs. Payne Whitney, the lucky owner of Nurmi, a horse who is as nimble as his namesake. Mrs. Whitney is credited with running her stable as successfully as a man and last year her prize money exceeded $145,000, Still another prominent society woman who loves racing and is a familiar figure at the races is Mrs. W. K. Vander- bilt IL. Mrs. Vanderbilt, like Mrs, Whit- ney, was an outstanding figure at this year's Saratoga meet. Both of these ladies are ranked as leading stable owners in the country, Mrs. Vanderbilt is the proud owner of Sarazen and probably her stables will produce many more such horses in the future. Her enthusiasm for racing was inherited from her father, the late Sena- tor James G. Fair, who likewise was a well known stable owner. These women are typical of the dozens of society women who now own their own stables and take a greater in- terest than ever in racing. Saratoga during the racing season this year be- came a regular millionaire colony. Many of the fashionables rented cottages be- cause of the crowding of the hotels dur- ing the season and for the added reason of escaping the motley crowd that al- ways follows the horses, If licenses to ride should be granted to women in this country, it will not be at all unlikely that some of these well known women race horse owners will champion their sex so far as to engage a girl jockey. If such is the case it will be interesting to watch the results, It may be that some athletic American girl will prove to the Jockey Club that their theories about women riding race horses is the most absurd nonsense and that a girl can stick on a horse even though her knees are curved. Since what the wiseacres said about the girl swimmers was so far Wrong we may expect, even though the czars of the track say it is impossible, a gir! who can outelass Sande, the jockey who rides all horses to victory.