54 ON AND OFF THE TURF. 



ringSj and tlie number is added to the investments 

 already made_, and the total amount is increased at the 

 top. For instance, there is a horse called Pirate, 

 No. 10. An investor puts five pounds on No. 10. 

 He receive five tickets, or one five pound ticket, and 

 the bell rings five times, registering a pound wager on 

 No. 10 each time. The total at the top, which stood 

 at 200 before the five pounds were invested, now 

 totals 205. 



If an owner puts fifty pounds on his horse on the 

 totalisator at one time, it naturally attracts the atten- 

 tion of the public, who are watching the board, and 

 they follow his lead. Every pound invested by out- 

 siders lessens the owner's dividend. He does not get 

 a certain amount of odds to his fifty pounds, but has 

 to take his share of the dividend with the general 

 public. 



This is where the shoe pinches with most owners 

 when the totalisator is mentioned. An argument one 

 well-known owner used against the machine, when I 

 asked his opinion, was as follows : 



" Suppose I have a horse in a race, and I put a 

 score on him. Then suppose half-a-dozen people I 

 know ask me if I fancy my horse's chance. If I say 

 'Yes,' they at once go and back it on the machine, and 

 every pound they put on lessens my dividend. If, 

 therefore, I want fair odds against my horse, I have 

 to keep my information to myself. 



