IN THE RING. 49 



montlis befure the race, and an occasional wao-er is 

 recorded before that.. In addition to Mr. Oxenhara, 

 there are many bookmakers with big volumes on this 

 great race. Mr. Jack Cohen, of Melbourne, lays in 

 thousands; also Mr. Alf Josephs, the leader of the 

 Victorian ring. Mr. Sam Allen is a good bettor. 

 Mr. Charles Westbrook makes a big book, and Paddy 

 Burke is as genial a man as there is in the ring. I 

 ought to have mentioned that in 1893 Mr. Oxenham 

 laid £32,000 against Cremorne for the Melbourne Cup, 

 and, if I recollect rightly, the horse ran about last. He 

 laid £30,000 against Camoola, and the same amount 

 against Jeweller, who finished third. 



It takes a large staff of clerks to look after such 

 a business as Mr. Oxenham's, and it is a very poor 

 day's work in the Sydney establishment when a 

 couple of hundred pounds is not taken. Mr. Tom 

 Kose manages this department, and a right good 

 fellow he is. He is rightly named, for he generally 

 looks on the rosy side of life. Many a yarn have I 

 had with him over a choice cigar and a drop of the 

 ^' cratur.^' Tom Rose knows a heap about footracing, 

 and he had a lot to do with that champion aboriginal 

 runner, Charlie Samuels, who downed Hutchins. 

 He spins yarns by the hour about the prowess of 

 Samuels. On one occasion Tom Rose took Samuels 

 over to North Shore to run a trial. This was soon 

 after the blackie came down from Queensland, and 



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