BACKERS AND BACKING i8i 



and concluded that Minting was a great horse. 

 Next year he backed him for the Two Thousand 

 Guineas, carefully watched the race, saw the ease 

 with which Ormonde won, and made up his mind 

 that whenever the Duke of Westminster's horse 

 appeared on a racecourse he would have ;/^ioo 

 on him. This is a very sensible way of going to 

 work. Pick out a really good horse and stick to 

 him. Class generally vindicates itself in the long 

 run. You can take a genuine interest in a really 

 good animal. If he is beaten so much the worse 

 and you lose, but it is less irritating to lose on him 

 than on some third-class handicap horse who 

 according to current gossip has won a trial and has 

 a fabulous amount in hand. There is some com- 

 fort after a bad day in the reflection that one has 

 at any rate acted sensibly, and that if the card had 

 to be run through again you would do just what 

 you have done ; you have been wrong, but you 

 have had sound reasons for it. 



There is, I think, instruction to be gained from 

 the account of Puntington's proceedings at the 

 beginning of this chapter. He ought not to have 

 had a bet at all on the Selling Handicap, in which, 

 as we have seen, he backed four horses ; and he 

 made one of the most common mistakes, by which 

 the ring daily benefits, in betting to " get home." 



