THE NOBLE ART OF BACKING WINNERS 1 85 



courses, who get a premium on their own 

 handiwork, and are generally big share- 

 holders in the club meetings as well. 

 You can trace it nearly all directly or 

 indirectly to the merry punter, and of 

 these how many make fortunes, or die 

 better off than when they were born ? Not 

 many. A racing man, who knows them 

 all pretty well, can quickly tick them off 

 with his fingers. But the impoverished 

 ones, are they not thick as Vallombrosian 

 leaves throughout the length and breadth 

 of the land ? Some flourish like a green 

 bay tree one day, and are stony the next. 

 YouVe had a good day, you've won ;^5oo 

 to-day, and ;£soo yesterday, and you know 

 a real good thing for to-morrow, and 

 you ve got a two-year-old in training that 

 you ran only half fit in April, when it 

 ran last ; it's come on by leaps and bounds, 

 and you'll get it in a nursery in September, 



