The truth about jockey earnings

Ever wondered about what jockey's realy make? The perception is that they make alot of money. Now the truth is that a handfull of the top jockeys do earn a good living but most struggle. A jockey earns roughly 50.00 a mount. From that 50.00, 10.00 will go to the jockey's guild if they are member, another 8.00 to the vallet( the person who saddles the horse and takes care of thier equipment), and finally 25% or 12.50 to the agent leaving them with a net total of about 19.50. Then there is the tip for the vallet. Now of course there are the exceptions of when a jockey wins he gets 10% of the owners share of the purse. Again that is the owners share of the purse which is 60%. Now unless you are riding at race tracks with 30,000.00 purses every race it is a hard way to make a living. Consider the hours spent working to earn those mounts as well. There morning begins between 5-6am where they work or gallop horses until around 10am. Then they will sometimes work out by running or go to the hot box to loose a few pounds and make wieght. By 12:00 they are ready to race and in the jocks room until the races are over roughly around 5:00. The day is long and there are many hours put in and some jockey only ride a couple of races a day. So of the thousands of jockeys who ride races most are not making very much to risk thier lives. Why then do they do it? It is for the love of the sport. The thrill, comradery, the competition, and the hope that they'll find that one horse that will propell them to the top of the game.