88 About Betting and Gambling. 



himself, and when he is pretty sure that he has a promising 

 two-year-old, he determines to try him in some small race, 

 and if he answers his expectations, he will feel his way 

 towards backing him for the Derby (if he is entered for it), 

 in the following year, at very long odds, and if he gets 

 what he wants, he knows exactly where he stands, and he 

 has simply put so much more capital into his racing ex- 

 penses. And then, should his horse turn out a real good 

 one, and prominent amongst the leading favourites, and 

 comes to short odds, he is perfectly justified in betting by 

 commission against his own horse enough to cover him, 

 provided he runs his horse fair to win. Or, again, a man 

 of large fortune likes to own and run race horses, and he 

 likes to back his own horses for a win or a place. Why 

 should he not do it just the same as commercial men are 

 buying or selling for rise or fall of markets every day ? 



As to the bookmakers, the solvent and respectable men 

 are nothing more or less than bankers to the sporting 

 world. They are very clever men and good calculators; 

 and by judiciously laying against everything they make a 

 certain book, as only one horse can win. It is the work of 

 a lifetime, and very harassing work, too ; and one thing is 

 always against them, which is that a bookmaker must pay 

 although some of his creditors do not come to time. His 

 good name is the foundation of his undertaking, and the 

 word of a large proportion of them is as good as Eothschild's 

 in Lombard-street. I have often travelled with and knew 

 many of them, but I never had dealings with them, as 

 betting is not my " vanity," though more than once they 

 have good-naturedly given me a good tip about backing 

 some dark horse for a place, which I have passed on to 

 friends who bet, and they have found it useful. 



A gam, I have known many men who have studied the 

 history of racing as I have done the history of cricket, 



