There are some 700 licensed jockeys in the U. S. Last week, coming down the homestretch of the 1938 horse-racing circuit, 28-year-old Johnny Longden of Calgary, Canada, and 24-year-old Johnny Adams of Tola, Kans. led the field in a neck & neck race for the jockey championship of the year. Solemn, sharp-faced Jockey Longden was in front with 222 winners; jolly pink-faced Jockey Adams, last year's champion, close behind with 208. Both were racing at the Tanforan track outside San Francisco, riding six or seven mounts a day, and flying down to Mexico for Sunday racing at Agua Caliente in their attempt to chalk up the most winners by December 31.
For California racing fans, impatiently awaiting the opening of Santa Anita on the last day of the year, the Adams v. Longden rivalry was particularly exciting. Although neither jockey is as well known nationally as Eddie Arcaro, generally considered the best rider in the country, or Nick Wall. No. 1 money winner of the year (some $400.000 for his employers), Johnny Longden and Johnny Adams are great favorites on the West Coast.
Many Californians will never forget the thrill they experienced when Jockey Adams rode six winners in a row (five of them long shots) at Bay Meadows one afternoon last spring—a feat that only seven U. S. jockeys have ever accomplished. Others who had seen him break a leg during a race at Del Mar last summer, marveled at his ability to be out in front again after being dismounted for two months. A barrel-chested pee-wee (4 ft. 8 in.) who learned to ride on the Western "bush"' tracks (county fairs), still lives in a trailer and looks as clumsy as Ichabod Crane on a horse. Johnny Adams has an extraordinary flair for getting the best out of the cheapest plater.
Unlike Johnny Adams. Johnny Longden has raced on the "big apple" (New York tracks), has matched his skill against the top-notch jockeys of the country at all the Eastern tracks, is the second highest money winner ($250,000) as well as the leading rider. Ever since 1935 when he made his Eastern debut by winning five out of six races on Bert Baroni's Top Row, Johnny Longden has been in great demand. A contract rider for the famed Wheatley Stable until two months ago, he is now under contract to Don Cameron, trainer for the stables of Mrs. John Hertz, Vera Bragg and J. Shirley Riley, at $17,000 a year—highest salary of any U. S. jockey.
In addition to his salary (for first call on his services), Jockey Longden, like most of his colleagues, receives $10 for every race he enters (up to last week he had entered 1,091 this year), $15 extra for every race he wins and 10% of the winning purse. His income this year is about $50,000. Although some earn more than many a bank president and others earn less than plumbers, all jockeys complain that they have to spend 50% of their earnings for expenses.