246 BETTING AS IT IS. 



position with whom the amateur may bet and be sure of 

 receiving his money if he is fortunate enough to back 

 the winner. But with the men who take the money before 

 the race, and with others outside the recognised ring, he 

 should have no deahngs under any pretence. These men 

 only receive the money with the intention of decamping 

 with it, should they lose. 



Another great point is never to rely for information on 

 a tipster or a tout. These gentry know more of men than 

 horses, and are always in search of flats and generally find 

 them. They never make the fortune for themselves that they 

 are ahvays professing to have made and to be still making for 

 others. As Butler has it in Hudibras, they, 



" Make fools believe in their far-seeing, 

 Of things before they are in being ; 

 To swallow gudgeon ere they're catch'd, 

 And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd." 



Rather rely on your own knowledge and judge from what 

 you see than from what others may say, unless you take the 

 advice of a friend that may happen to know or be the owner 

 of any horse about to run. By this means you may win, 

 though you will have to take a shorter price than the owner, 

 after the commission is executed ; but you have the satis- 

 faction of knowing that you have backed a horse that may 

 have a fair chance of winning and will be content whatever 

 be the result ; for you will have the assurance you have been 

 honestly dealt by and have had in turf phraseology " a run 

 for your money." Says Lord Byron — 



" Most men, till by losing rendered sager, 

 Will back their own opinion by a wager.'' 



This is so, it may be concluded ; for it is the dictum of a 

 great student of mankind, and will probably be found true 



