248 RACING. 



other words, if the public support a sufficient number of horses 

 at such prices as to enable him to win by most or all of them, 

 the latter alternative for choice. Considering that he himself 

 sets the market, the process is not so difficult as it might appear 

 to the inexperienced. Say, for instance, that the names of six 

 runners appear on the telegraph board, that the bookmaker 

 has a hundred-pound book, and the betting rules thus : 



100 to loo v. A 

 loo to 50 v. B 

 100 to 30 z/. C 



loo to 20 "v. D 



i oo to 1 5 v. E 

 100 to 5 11. F 



it is not easy to see where the loss can come in ; and this 

 is no extravagantly hypothetical case. It is, on the contrary, an 

 unusually liberal quotation ; for as a matter of fact he would 

 not lay 100 to 5 against F, or anything of the sort far more 

 likely 100 to 10 unless he had good reason for thinking 

 that F was fat, or lame, or otherwise ' not on the job ; ' and if 

 by chance that outsider does poke his nose in first, the layer, 

 after the irrepressible cheer which follows the hoisting of the 

 number, quickly pulls himself together, and mindful always to 

 pose as the victim of circumstances, replies to some backer's 

 query of, ; Well, you had a good race that time ? ' with, 'Worst 

 a' had ; laid all book agen winner, and never got to lay favourite,' 

 in the tone of one who, having had a couple of hours of the thumb- 

 screws, is about to try the rack for a change. One of the regular 

 all-round bettors, a man who has every right to give his opinion 

 on the subject, has been heard to declare, ' There's no denying 

 that it's a good game ; if they all paid on Monday it would be 

 too good, but as it is it's good enough.' Of another, who has as 

 large a business as any in the ring, it is said that he will bet 

 with any man who has a decent coat on his back ; no introduc- 

 tion of any sort is required, and he defends himself against the 

 charge of recklessness by saying, ' If they bet with me at all, 

 they must bet my prices, so that I know they carit go on 

 winning, and they generally pay in the long run, because they 

 want to come back and bet again.' 



