Do they know? At the turn to the straight <br />Where the favourites fail, <br />And every last atom of weight <br />Is telling its tale; <br />As some grim old stayer hard-pressed <br />Runs true to his breed, <br />And with head in front of the rest <br />Fights on in the lead; <br />When the jockeys are out with the whips, <br />With a furlong to go, <br />And the backers grow white in the lips -- <br />Do you think they don't know? <br />Do they know? As they come back to weigh <br />In a whirlwind of cheers, <br />Though the spurs have left marks of the fray, <br />Though the sweat on the ears <br />Gathers cold, and they sob with distress <br />As they roll up the track, <br />They know just as well their success <br />As the man on their back. <br />As they walk through a dense human lane <br />That sways to and fro, <br />And cheers them again and again, <br />Do you think they don't know?<br /><br />Andrew Barton Paterson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/do-they-know/
