THE BETTING KING. 57 



his own or the younger generation of turfites. His 

 fame at the Corner was at its zenith a quarter of a 

 century ago, when he was a betting partner with 

 Ridsdale. Rumour averred that they won .35,000 

 on Margrave for the St. Leger, and .50,000 on St. 

 Giles for the Derby ; and it was in consequence of a 

 dispute as to the Margrave winnings, which is rather 

 too complicated for explanation here, that the Siamese 

 link between them was so abruptly dissolved. Their 

 joint books also showed a balance of 80,000, if Red 

 Rover could only have brought Priam to grief for the 

 Derby. There was a joke, too, soon after this time, 

 that Mr. Gully and his friend Justice descended on 

 to Cheltenham, and so completely cleaned out the 

 local Ring there, that the two did not even think it 

 worth while stopping for the second race-day. One 

 of the lesser lights was found wandering moodily 

 about the Ring on that day, and remarked to a sym- 

 pathizer that he was " looking for the few half-crowns 

 which that Gully and Justice had condescended to 

 leave." Lord George Bentinck is still allowed to be 

 the cleverest man that the Turf ever had, but the 

 loss of .27,000 in one year was the crucible in which 

 he learnt his experience. Strictly speaking, he was 

 a very fancy bettor; and he would do what hardly a 

 man alive dared do make a book to any amount, 

 and back horses as well. 



The Ring par excellence may now be said to con- 

 sist of some four hundred strong, of whom about a 

 hundred are looked upon as emphatically "safe men/' 

 and nearly half of the twenty score belong to the 

 " Manchester Division," who congregate under the 

 Bush, or at the Post Office Hotel. The betting on 

 the Derby is at least five times as great as that on 

 the St. Leger, and while about eight safe men " go" 

 every year on the former, the two or three who have 

 received a heavy blow on the latter, frequently, by 

 the grace of their creditors, contrive to hobble on till 



