RACEGOERS AND RACEGOING 287 



^' Will he last the year ? " " Not a hope of it," 

 the other replied. " I will bet you a sovereign he 

 is gone before the Cambridgeshire ! " The 

 estimate was too liberal. The Sussex fortnight 

 practically finished him. He went to Doncaster, 

 proclaiming himself the unluckiest creature that 

 was ever seen on a racecourse, betted with the 

 bookmakers who would take him on, lost 

 continually, and ceased to be a racegoer. 



There was another ardent youth who after a 

 phenomenally good day was heard expressing 

 regret instead of satisfaction. 



" You haven't much to grumble at, I should 

 fancy ! " a friend said to him. 



" Haven't I ! " was the answer. " It makes me 

 furious to think of the time I've wasted " (he was 

 twenty-four) ; " why, this is the best game in the 

 world for a man with his wits about him, and I've 

 only just learnt it ! " 



Less than a month saw him out, with every- 

 thing he had gone, and his name with unpaid bets 

 to it in the books of half the ring. 



Here I must pull up abruptly, not because my 

 subject is exhausted, but because my space is 

 filled. 



