BETTING. 261 



wishes within a few hours to back his horse all over the country. 

 Due notice of this intention having been given to the com- 

 missioner, his agents are forewarned, cyphers and ke^s 

 prepared, and when the telegraph signal flashes forth, operations 

 are conducted almost simultaneously in London and in the 

 remotest provinces. The old system of an owner dropping 

 into TattersalPs on a Monday afternoon, and backing his horse 

 for a Derby, Cesarewitch, or other race, has almost entirely 

 dropped into desuetude, and the heavy business is left altogether 

 in the commissioner's hands. Sometimes, when the transaction 

 is exceptionally promising, it is undertaken by one of the 

 leading bookmakers, who * goes for it,' and endeavours as far as 

 may be to fleece his brethren, but this device entails the obvious 

 disadvantage to the proprietor of missing a leading book. 



Whether the commission system as at present carried out 

 tends to the welfare of backers, those who employ it should be 

 the best judges. It is for the most part fairly and honestly 

 conducted, the agents of course finding their profit in the 

 special and early information, which enables them to invest and 

 hedge their own money with that of the stable. The hedging 

 perhaps is the most difficult part of the whole affair ; for, 

 unless a horse comes with a sudden rush in the market, necessi- 

 tating an equally hasty ' getting out ' on the part of those who 

 have overlaid themselves, the appearance on the scene of the 

 accredited commissioner with palpable laying orders often 

 causes a reaction in favour of the ' bears ' and defeats the 

 object in view. 



The settlement of backers' accounts after each meeting 

 is now practically altogether in the hands of the commission 

 agents a modern improvement of magnitude. They do the 

 work promptly, and thoroughly, while in cases of difficulty their 

 tact and discretion are beyond praise ; that semi-fraudulent 

 manipulation of accounts the drawing all, and paying as little 

 as possible, formerly so frequent (more especially when during 

 the Newmarket meetings a daily settlement was supposed to 

 take place), is now, let us hope, a thing of the past. 



