264 THE RACING WORLD 



familiar terms with them. The majority, however, 

 I suspect go because the racecourse is a potential 

 Tommy Tiddler's ground, where it is possible that 

 you may pick up gold and silver. It is so simple ! 



" What price Deception ? " you ask. 



" Four to one, sir," is the reply. 



" Four fifties," you say, scribble it in your 

 betting book just as the horses are started, observe 

 that Deception is full of running at the distance 

 iust behind an obviously beaten horse, see him 

 come cantering home at his ease — the race was 

 never in doubt — and you have won ^^200. You 

 have often heard of Tommy Tiddler's ground, but 

 never knew where it was situated ; your geogra- 

 phical knowledge is extended, now you have dis- 

 covered the locality : it is to be found on the other 

 side of the rails which bound the Club enclosure. 



Of course you may be a philosophical person, and 

 then you may be inclined to wonder how Tommy 

 Tiddler first grew wealthy, where the gold and 

 silver. came from ? Reflection will suggest to you 

 that it originally dropped from the pockets of 

 adventurers — backers, in fact — who had gone to 

 pick it up, but on the contrary had left what they 

 had behind them ; for bookmakers seldom start in 

 life with plethoric banking accounts : they begin 

 with a very small capital, and increase it by more 



