BETTING AND "THE RING" 211 



you "would not like it to win without having some- 

 thing on," you cannot in any case win much, and you 

 may lose a great deal. Yet how many men do bet 

 like that, meeting after meeting, and go home growl- 

 ing at their luck, and lamenting another bad day ! 

 If you adopt the one horse rule suggested you avoid 

 all that sort of thing, and, moreover, you do not bet in 

 every race. 



The question is often asked, Who fixes the odds ? 

 In truth, they have a singular way of adjusting them- 

 selves ; and it is very remarkable, seeing upon what 

 exceedingly vague premises the business starts, how 

 accurately the "price" of a horse can often be foretold. 

 "How will they bet.'*" some one asks, as the card 

 or morning paper is being scanned ; and the answer 

 may be, " Oh, you'll have to lay odds, 6 to 4, I 

 should think"; or, "You will most likely get about 

 2 to i"; or, "Oh, so-and-so and so-and-so are sure 

 to be backed; they ought to lay you 100 to 15." 

 A good judge will frequently be wonderfully near the 

 mark. 



On what are called "post betting " and "ante-post 

 betting " races alike, the odds are determined by the 

 demand for a horse, that is to say, by the desire of 

 the public to back it. In the great ante-post betting 

 races a man makes up his mind that a horse — his 

 own, it may be, or some one else's — is likely to win, 

 and asks a bookmaker what he will lay. The backer 

 may think that he ought to get, say, 10 to i ; the 



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