252 RACING. 



they pay punctually, and, so far as is consistent with the cha- 

 racter of true-born Britons, pay without grumbling. Secondly, 

 their generosity, individual and collective, is proverbial. If a 

 jockey gets a fall either on the flat or over a country, or is 

 incapacitated by other illness from pursuing his calling ; if a 

 trainer dies suddenly leaving a wife and children unprovided 

 for ; in fact, if misfortune in any way overtakes men whose 

 living depends upon Turf pursuits, a subscription is forthwith 

 started and nobly responded to in the ring ; and when the 

 object of their charity is beyond the reach of human aid, they 

 club purses and bury him decently. 



' The community of backers ' is a favourite newspaper 

 phrase, yet, except in the very broadest sense of the term, no 

 such community exists at all. There are a lot of men who 

 back horses, and who growl in chorus over the insufficiency of 

 the odds, but here the common feeling begins and ends. The 

 backers are not split into sections, as is said to be the case with 

 the Liberal party ; they are divided into units, and of necessity, 

 for by very virtue of his occupation the more chary a backer 

 is of imparting his knowledge, however acquired, the better 

 chance he has of profiting by it. His position is the exact con- 

 verse of that of the bookmakers. He wants to take long, they 

 want to lay short odds, and it stands to reason the more the 

 good thing is put about, the better for them and the worse for 

 him. 



A certain interchange of confidence amongst owners of 

 horses there must of course be. ' Scratch my back and I'll 

 scratch yours ' is a precept which holds good in all trades, but 

 on the Turf, the scratching (of the back) is done as discreetly 

 and with as much reservation as possible. 



To the general public the owner, at any rate if he bets, is 

 habitually and rightly reticent why should he be otherwise ? 

 Why should he divulge to some threescore intimate acquain- 

 tances the trial of his dark flyer, or the secret of the jostle, cross, 

 bad start, or other misadventure which deprived a public per- 

 former of previous victory ? The threescore would be at work 



