174 THE RACING WORLD 



always remunerative — good things often looking so 

 very bad after the race. 



" Only bet in small sums, the losing of which 

 will not seriously inconvenience you," seems the 

 soundest of advice, but there are those who doubt 

 whether it is so. In accordance with the eternal 

 principles of arithmetic, these small sums have an 

 ugly habit of mounting up, and the backer is apt 

 to be careless about staking them. To adopt as a 

 minimum some fixed amount which really makes 

 a bit of a difference is advocated by other mentors, 

 because if this be done a man does not bet without 

 carefully making up his mind on what seem to 

 him sound premises ; and on the whole it may be 

 said that the more seldom anyone bets the less 

 he loses. 



The question of price is all important, and one 

 of the most remarkable things about racing is the 

 accuracy with which prices can frequently be fore- 

 cast by the experienced : " It is sure to be a hot 

 favourite, they'll lay odds " ; " You ought to get 

 4 or 5 to I " ; " They will back a lot, and I 

 expect So-and-so will start about loo to 14" — 

 such are the remarks heard every day before betting 

 on a race begins, and as often as not the situation is 

 about correctly estimated ; though of course, on 

 the other hand, one is occasionally very wide of the 



