This article is about the sports occupation. For other meanings, see Jockey (disambiguation).

In sport, a jockey is one who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. This article is about the sport For other uses see Horserace (drinking game or Horse race (politics. The steeplechase is a form of Horse racing (primarily conducted in the United Kingdom, United States, France, and Ireland) and derives

Contents 1 Horse racing 2 Racing silks 3 Robot jockeys 4 Risk factors 5 Etymology 6 Physical Description of the Jockey 7 External links 8 See also 9 References

Horse racing

Jockeys are normally self employed, nominated by horse trainers to ride their horses in races, for a fee (which is paid regardless of the prize money the horse earns for a race) and a cut of the purse winnings. Self-employment is the individual pursuit of Capitalism. To be self-employed an individual is normally highly skilled in a trade or has a niche product or service In Horse racing, a trainer is responsible for preparing a horse for races In Australia, employment of apprentice jockeys is in terms of indenture to a master (a trainer); and there is a clear employee/employer relationship. When an apprentice jockey finishes his apprenticeship and becomes a "fully fledged jockey", the nature of their employment and insurance requirements change because they are regarded as "freelance", like contractors. Jockeys often cease their riding careers to take up other employment in racing, usually as trainers. In this way the appreniceship system serves to induct young people into racing employment.

Jockeys usually start out when they are young, riding work in the morning for trainers, and entering the riding profession as an apprentice jockey. An apprentice jockey is known as a "bug boy" because the asterisk that follows the name in the program looks like a bug. All jockeys must be licensed and usually are not able to have an interest in a bet on a race. An apprentice jockey has a master, who is a horse trainer, and also is allowed to "claim" weight off the horse's back (if a horse were to carry 58 kg, and the apprentice was able to claim 3 kg, the horse would only have to carry 55 kg on its back). After a while, the jockey becomes a senior jockey and would usually develop relationships with trainers and individual horses. Sometimes senior jockeys are paid a retainer by an owner which gives the owner the right to insist the jockey rides their horses in races.

Racing modeled on the English Jockey Club spread throughout the world with colonial expansion, and in one view is a vehicle of hegemony. The emergence of women jockeys in the 1970s followed a wider cultural trend in female interest in sports. The emergence did raise argument about the suitability of women in the demanding role of jockeys, and whilst there are a number of high-level female jockeys, the profession is still dominated by men as illustrated in the list below:

Famous jockeys include Earl Dew, Earl Sande, Chris McCarron, Sir Gordon Richards, Willie Shoemaker, Pat Day, Eddie Arcaro, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Russell Baze, Lester Piggott, Frankie Dettori, Red Pollard, Tony Cruz, Jose Santos, Edgar Prado, Jerry Bailey, Ron Turcotte, Garrett Gomez, and Tony McCoy. Earl H Sande ( November 13, 1898 – August 19, 1968) was an American Hall of Fame Jockey and Thoroughbred Christopher John "Chris" McCarron (b March 27 1955, Boston Massachusetts) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall Sir Gordon Richards ( May 5 1904 - November 10 1988) was an English Jockey, and is usually considered the world's greatest William Lee Shoemaker ( August 19, 1931 &ndash October 12, 2003) was an American Jockey. For Melvin "Pat" Day the New Zealand artist see Melvin Day Patrick Alan "Pat" Day (born October 13, George Edward Arcaro ( February 19, 1916 - November 4, 1997) known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Laffit Alejandro Pincay Jr (born December 29, 1946 in Panama City, Panama) is a retired Jockey who was based primarily in the Russell A Baze (born August 7, 1958 in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada) is the winningest jockey in North American history and the second Lester Keith Piggott (born 5 November 1935) is a retired English Jockey, popularly known as "The Long Fellow" Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, MBE (born December 15, 1970 in Milan) is a Thoroughbred Race horse Jockey John "Red" M Pollard ( October 27, 1909 &ndash March 7, 1981) was a Canadian -born Thoroughbred Horse racing Anthony S "Tony" Cruz (born December 24, 1956 in Hong Kong) is a former Champion Thoroughbred horse racing Jockey and current Edgar S Prado (born June 12, 1967 in Lima, Peru) is a US Racing Hall of Fame Jockey in Thoroughbred Jerry D Bailey (born August 29, 1957 in Dallas Texas) is a retired American Hall of Fame Jockey. Ron Joseph Morel Turcotte (born July 22, 1941 in Drummond, New Brunswick, Canada) is a Hall of Fame Thoroughbred Race Garrett Keith Gomez (born January 1, 1972 in Tucson, Arizona) is an American Thoroughbred Jockey. For the football player of the same name see Tony McCoy (football player.

Various awards are given annually by organizations affiliated with the sport of thoroughbred racing in countries throughout the world. They include:

• United States
  • George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
  • Isaac Murphy Award
• United Kingdom
  • BHB Champion Jockey Award

Racing silks

The silks worn by jockeys in races are the registered "colours" of the owner who employs them. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia California annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred Horse racing The Isaac Murphy Award is an American honor presented annually since 1995 by the National Turf Writers Association of the United States to the Thoroughbred The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Champion Jockey of Flat racing in Great Britain is the Jockey who has ridden the most winning horses during a season The practice of horsemen wearing colours probably stems from medieval times when jousts were held between knights. But the origins of racing colours of multifarious patterns that are seen today may have been influenced by racing held in Italian city communities since medieval times. Such traditional events are still held on town streets and are remarkable for furious riding and the colourful spectacle they offer.

The symbolism of racing colours in a modern sense shows metaphoric overlap with other practices. Getting "silks" is a rite of passage when a jockey is first able to don silken pants and colours in their first race ride, and it has a parallel in how lawyers are spoken of as "taking silk". At one time silks were invariably made of silk, though now synthetics are sometimes used instead. Nevertheless, the silks and their colours are important symbols evoking emotions of loyalty and festivity.

Robot jockeys

Main article: Robot jockey

To replace child jockeys whose use had been deplored by human rights organizations, a camel race in Doha, Qatar for the first time featured robots at the reins. A robot jockey is commonly used on Camels in Camel racing as a replacement for human Jockeys Developed beginning in 2004 the Robotic jockeys Camel racing is a popular Sport in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Australia. Doha (الدوحة or Ad-Dōḥah) is the Capital city of Qatar. A robot jockey is commonly used on Camels in Camel racing as a replacement for human Jockeys Developed beginning in 2004 the Robotic jockeys On July 13, 2005, workers fixed robotic jockeys on the backs of seven camels and raced the machine-mounted animals around a track. Events 1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Operators controlled the jockeys remotely, signaling them to pull their reins and prod the camels with whips [1].

Risk factors

Horse jockeying is a sport where permanent, debilitating, and even life-threatening injuries occur. Chief among them include concussion, bone fracture, arthritis, trampling, and paralysis. Jockey insurance premiums remain among the highest of all professional sports. ^[1] Eating disorders (such as anorexia) are also very common among jockeys, as the athletes face extreme pressure to maintain unusually low (and specific) weights for men, sometimes within a five pound (2. Anorexia Nervosa is a psychiatric Diagnosis that describes an Eating disorder characterized by low Body weight and Body image distortion 3 kg) margin. ^[2] The bestselling historical novel Seabiscuit: An American Legend chronicled the eating disorders of jockeys living in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Seabiscuit An American Legend is a non-fiction book written by Laura Hillenbrand published in 2001 about the Thoroughbred race horse, Seabiscuit The twentieth century of the Common Era began on As in the cases of champion jockey Kieren Fallon and Robert Winston, the pressure to stay light has been blamed in part for driving the men to alcoholism. Kieren Francis Fallon (born February 22 1965 in Crusheen County Clare, Ireland) is a Flat racing Jockey and has been Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions

Etymology

The word is by origin a diminutive of "jock", the Northern or Scots colloquial equivalent of the first name "John," which is also used generically for "boy, or fellow" (compare "Jack," "Dick"), at least since 1529. Jack (ˈdʒæk is a male Given name, although in very rare cases it can be used as a female given name though it is also often given as a proper name in its own right The first or given name Richard comes from the Germanic elements "ric" (ruler leader king and "hard" (strong brave

A familiar instance of the use of the word as a name is in "Jockey of Norfolkia" in Shakespeare's Richard III. v. 3, 304.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the word was applied to horse-dealers, postilions, itinerant minstrels and vagabonds, and thus frequently bore the meaning of a cunning rickster, a "sharp", whence the verb to jockey, "to outwit", or "to do" a person out of something. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar A postilion (or postillion, occasionally Anglicized to "post-boy" By contrast a Coachman would be mounted on the vehicle along with the passengers minstrel was a medieval European Bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories about distant places or about real or imaginary historical events

The current equestrian usage is found in John Evelyn's Diary, 1670, when it was clearly well known. George Sorrow's attempt to derive the word from the gypsy chukni, a heavy whip used by horse-dealing Gypsies, has no foundation.

More recently, a colloquialism in the north west of England has emerged, offering a variation in terms of usage and meaning in the term "Jockey". The new slang implies that a person "Jockeys" something in order to control or maneuver an item or challenge.

Physical Description of the Jockey

Jockeys have a reputation for being very short, but there are no height limits, only weight limits. A rider can be of any height if they can still make weight, but it is still generally limited to fairly short individuals because of the limits on a persons body. Jockeys typically range from 5' to 5'5" in height.

External links

• "Mandated Anorexia"
• "Jockey Career Description"
• Etymology Online
• "Mammals & Events: A Jockey's Hard Life". at PBS. org

See also

• List of jockeys
• U.S. National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
• Thoroughbred horse racing

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. To meet Wikipedia's quality standards and make it more accessible to a general audience this article The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide Sport and Industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred Horses It is governed by different national The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

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