Still crazy after all those years: continuity in a changing labour market for professional jockeys

Abstract

Using the career of a leading modern rider as a focal point, this article examines the changes and continuities in the labour market for professional jockeys over the past century and a half. It looks at the rigours of the job via travel load, risk of injury and, above all, weight watching; at the rewards both monetary and psychic; at human capital formation; at drug and alcohol issues; and at power relations and disciplinary procedures.