THE TURF. 
to win the Derby ; but the price makes them favourites 
and then thousands are won by their losing it. We 
believe, however, this trick is now become too stale to 
succeed. 
Then there is another system which cannot be too 
severely reprobated namely, making a horse a favourite 
in the betting, and then selling him on the eve of a 
great play or pay race. We confess we could by no 
means understand " the white- washing," as it was 
termed by Lord Uxbridge, that the late Mr. Beards- 
worth obtained by his explanation of an affair of this 
nature at Doncaster. The act of selling a horse under 
such circumstances to a duke would have been a culpable 
one; but what must be thought of "the merry sport" 
of placing him in the hands of a hell-keeper ? * 
One of the principal evils is the betting of trainers 
and jockeys. W T e may be asked, is there any harm in a 
trainer betting a few pounds on a horse he has in his 
stable, and which he thinks has a fair chance to win ? 
Certainly not ; and the old, and the only proper way of 
doing this was, to ask the owner of the horse to let him 
stand some part of his engagements, a request that 
was never known to be refused. But then no trainer 
* The racing -world remember Mr. Watt's honourable conduct on this 
point, when offered a large price for Belzoni, a great favourite for the 
St. Leger. " No," said he, " my horse is at present the property cf the 
public." It is stated in the " Old Sporting Magazine," for December, 1835, 
p. 157 and uncontradicted that Mr. Mostyn had an offer made to him 
for the Queen of Trumps, on the day previous to her winning the St. Leger 
stakes, at Doncaster, of seven thousand pounds ! 
243 
