34 KNOWLEDGE TO BE ACQUIRED BY 



some of the meetings in the country. If a man 

 has money to back himself on, let him begin 

 early to lay the odds against all the horses in 

 every great play or pay race, where the bets 

 are P. P., as there is only one in each race that 

 can win. To play this game, he must attend on 

 such days as the betting market is open, and 

 watch narrowly the fluctuations of it, keeping his 

 own stable as secret and as much in reserve as 

 may best suit his book, which latter he must of- 

 ten and well con over; he must watch and see if 

 there is any favourable or unfavourable changes 

 in the market, that may induce him to lay on, or 

 hedge off, just as he may conceive is necessary to 

 bring himself safe and well home ; he is to look 

 cautiously at these matters, and in due time, as 

 a week before the running of each race, he 

 should compare his book with those of others 

 with whom he may have betted, who of course 

 are such men as are capable of paying their los- 

 ings, for lose they all must, by taking the long 

 odds in these great races, upon every horse ex- 

 cept one in each race. If a man has entered a 

 couple of good colts in any one of the above 

 stakes, and has proved such two colts to be 

 superior to any colt he had ever previously 

 tried out of his own stable, and that they 



