BACKERS AND BACKING 183 



tried, and invested his modest stake on anything 

 that ran. 



A position in which our friend the backer greatly 

 dehghts to find himself is the following : All the 

 papers with very few exceptions " go for " one 

 animal. A red-hot tip is abroad, and every other 

 man he meets on the course tells him of the " good 

 thing." A peculiarity of a certain class of racing 

 man, very numerously represented, is that he is 

 given to assume a knowledge which he does not 

 possess, and some ingenious person or other is certain 

 to pretend an acquaintance with the details of the 

 trial — the Esperance colt is 71b. to lolb. in front 

 of a smart animal that won the week before last, it is 

 gradually whispered abroad. Our backer presently 

 meets the owner of the much-discussed horse, a 

 shrewd man who knows what he is talking about. 



" You've got a ' sitter ' this afternoon, I hear ? " 

 is the greeting. 



" I hear so, too, but I wasn't aware of it until I 

 heard ! " is the reply. " I've even been told the 

 trial ; but the fact is the colt has not been tried at 

 all. It's a big, overgrown baby, and won't be 

 ready for a long time yet. He can have no sort 

 of chance. Barleymow is sure to win, I think ! " 

 (I am, let me add, faithfully describing something 

 that recently occurred.) 



