186 THE TURF 



But is there no contingency here. Yes, 

 the colt might have died before A had 

 hedged, and then he must have paid his 

 one hundred pounds; but, on the other 

 hand, he would have been out of the field, 

 which might have been worth all the money 

 to him, in his deeper speculations on other 

 horses. But let us suppose our colt to have 

 remained at the original odds, viz., 20 to i. 

 In that case, A must have betted 2000 to 100 

 against him, and then no harm would have 

 arisen. 



In what is called making a book on a 

 race, it is evident that the bettor must be 

 early in the market, taking and betting the 

 odds for and against each horse : for backing 

 a favourite to win is not his system. His 

 chief object is to take long odds against 

 such horses as he fancies, and then await 

 the turn of the market, when he sells dearly 

 what he has purchased cheaply. For ex- 

 ample, how often does it happen that 12 to 

 i is the betting against a horse two months 

 before his race, and before he starts it is 

 only 4 to i ? If the bettor has taken 1200 

 to 100 against him, and then bets 400 to 100 

 the other way, he risks nothing, but has a 



