3o6 THE RACING WORLD 



A sporting pressman's habits are of necessity 

 nomadic and irregular, and I should say, speaking 

 generally, that one's articles are rarely written 

 twice under the same circumstances. Mine are 

 scribbled in turn in the press-room, in trains, at 

 offices, at home, or probably over a meal at an 

 hotel or restaurant. I have indited them on the 

 -course during the intervals, when watching a 

 cricket or football match, afloat up the river, 

 during the acts at a theatre, and in the Law 

 Courts. 



Two or three of the numerous local weekly 

 papers, that are mainly compiled by tout-tipsters, 

 are, on the whole, well done, though their directors 

 naturally cannot find good men to represent them 

 at all the training quarters ; and readers who pay 

 really careful attention to these reports from 

 different places must surely be maddened by the 

 blatant idiocy of some of these louts — the first 

 letter is an " 1 " — for it is the invariable custom of 

 some of them to prophesy that every horse they 

 watch must surely win. Here is the man from 

 Blankton. He writes that " Alpha will strip in 

 fine fettle for the So-and-so Plate, and must not be 

 missed'' — they are great men for italics. "Beta 

 will capture the Welter Handicap. Gamma is our 

 best for the Cup, and will win. Delta should 



