CHAPTERS FROM TURF HISTORY 



a conflict of disturbing factors in connection with 

 a given race : and it is at variance with the correct 

 relations between an owner and his servant. If 

 the trainer bets, his stable lads will do the same ; 

 and, though it may not be possible to banish 

 betting from a stable, it is obvious that the one 

 man who can exercise a healthy restraint on the 

 gambling of his employes, who ought to teach them 

 to resist the scandalous temptations which are 

 offered to them by the advertising tipster in search 

 of stable information, is in no position to set a 

 sober example of independence of the betting 

 market if he is known — and known he will be- — to 

 be employing a commissioner to accept the odds 

 about the horses he trains, or to support the more- 

 fancied animals in another establishment. 



A trainer holds a position of trust. He requires 

 a licence in order to follow his calling. It has been 

 argued that a licensed trainer ought to be under 

 the same disability as regards betting as a licensed 

 jockey. This would, however, be aiming at too 

 rigid a standard of morality, at too lofty a counsel 

 of perfection. And yet, when the statement is 

 made that the emoluments of a trainer are in- 

 sufficient for his situation unless he supplements 

 his professional earnings by betting, the matter is 

 one which should not be too lightly dismissed. 

 That a trainer should be obliged to look for a 

 necessary addition to his income from betting 

 operations on the course or from manipulating the 

 machinery of starting-price offices is an intolerable 

 reflection upon those who engage his services and 

 who are responsible for his rate of remuneration. 

 There are, of course, trainers and trainers ; but 



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