RACEGOERS AND RACEGOING 267 



occasion of a great deal of untruth and deception. 

 There seems to be something in the atmosphere of 

 a racecourse that leads to unveracity. A few years 

 ago there lived a well-known devotee of the Turf, 

 an owner of horses, one of the selectest body of the 

 racing world — I am intentionally vague, for I do 

 not wish to point to my example too directly — 

 who had a reputation for being phenomenally 

 lucky. After a race when some surprise had 

 occurred, when one or two animals that their 

 owners had thought could not be beaten had 

 suffered defeat, when two or three more with out- 

 side chances had been " down the course," and an 

 " impossible horse " had won, this personage would 

 frequently ask me if I had backed the winner. 



" Why, no ! " would be the reply, " I had a dash 

 on the favourite, saved on Blank's mare, and SnafBe 

 made me have a few sovereigns on his. Did you 

 back it ? " 



"Yes ! I was fortunate enough to take 1,000 to 

 60 twice," he would answer, and you wondered 

 at the happy combination of judgment and luck 

 which had influenced him, reflecting that this kind 

 of thing only happened to a rich man. One day 

 he blew his brains out, and to the general amaze- 

 ment it was found that he had dissipated every 

 shilling of a very handsome fortune, nearly all of it 



