At 01:17 PM 4/5/00 -0700, you wrote:
>As a horse racing fan myself, I have to comment on
this one.
>
>Those jockeys may be little, but most folks consider
them the strongest
>professional athletes out there. Small men and
occasionally women, often
>fasting and purging to keep their weight down, riding
atop and controlling a
>ton or so of fast-moving horseflesh in very tight
quarters: this isn't a
>job for sissies.
>
>Besides, most jockeys are from the great underclass.
At the top of the
>professional level are lots of Cajun jockeys who
learned their skill in
>illegal match races in the backwoods, as well as a
long of Hispanics, both
>from this country and from other countries. Not too
many bluebloods in the
>lot.
>
>They also come back from life-threatening injuries to
ride again within
>amazingly short periods of time (at least the lucky
ones do). In the U.S.,
>at least, an ambulance follows the field of horses
around the track. What
>other sport to you know of where that
occurs?
>
>Teri (a fan of hard-boiled jockeys)
>
Even though I find the topic of
hard-boiled sports a little silly, I reluctantly agree that
the track has a very hard-boiled feel. As a young law clerk,
I had to go to a track once to investigate a criminal matter
involving a jockey. The whole vibe made me feel as though I
had wandered into a Chandler novel. Very cool.
James
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