Online Casino Players.com

Volume I

The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz, Volume II

I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV

The Turf, Historical, Social, Moral

Again, in the exhibition of those useful and honourable Olympic
pastimes of old, the cause of morality was not overlooked:--there
was in them a happy union of utility, pleasure, and virtue. A
spotless life and unblameable manners, a purity of descent by
being born in wedlock through several generations, and a series
of creditable relations, were indispensable qualifications of a
candidate on the Olympic turf. It is true, there is at least as
much attention paid to purity and faultlessness on the plains of
Newmarket; but the application is to the blood and pedigree of
the horse, not of his rider.

Nay, it was, and is, notorious that the word 'jockey' has
acquired the meaning of 'to trick,' 'to cheat,' as appears in all
our dictionaries and in common parlance. What is the inference
from this but that the winning of races is no absolute proof of
the superiority of the horse--for whose improvement racing is
said to be encouraged; but rather the result of a secret
combination of expedients or arrangements--in a word, jockeying,
that is, cheating, tricking. The only 'moral' character required
in the jockey is the determination to do whatsoever may be agreed
upon or determined by those who are willing and able to give 'a
consideration' for the convenient accommodation.

Previous ... Next
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17