THE STATE OF THE ODDS. 3Q1 



BETTING ON HORSE-RACES: OR, THE STATE 

 OF THE ODDS. 



THERE appears every day in the newspapers an 

 account of the betting on the principal forthcoming 

 races. The betting on such races as the Two Thou- 

 sand Guineas, the Derby, and the Oaks, often begins 

 more than a year before the races are run ; and during 

 the interval, the odds laid against the different horses 

 engaged in them vary repeatedly, in accordance with 

 the reported progress of the animals in their training, 

 or with what is learned respecting the intentions of 

 their owners. Many who do not bet themselves, find 

 an interest in watching the varying fortunes of the 

 horses, which are held by the initiated to be leading 

 favorites, or to fall into the second rank, or merely to 

 have an outside chance of success. It is amusing to 

 notice, too, how frequently the final state of the odds 

 is falsified by the event ; how some " rank outsider " 

 will run into the first place, while the leading favorites 

 are not even " placed." 



It is in reality a simple matter to understand 

 the betting on races (or contests of any kind), yet 

 it is astonishing how seldom those who do not ac- 

 tually bet upon races have any inkling of the mean- 

 ing of those mysterious columns which indicate the 

 opinion of the betting world respecting the proba- 



