THE L. S. D. OF THE TURF. 6r 



handicap. That is the way some men manage 

 to make their horses pay ; but even that plan is 

 precarious, so many are playing the same game. 

 As to winning money on the turf without betting, 

 it has been shown that, with the apfQ-reofate ex- 



• oo o 



penses at double the sum which can be won, it is, 

 as a rule, impossible. The majority of those now 

 running horses on the turf are simply gamblers, 

 many of them having gone into the business on a 

 large scale. 



A round dozen of the most enthusiastic sup- 

 porters of racing, it is said, do not bet, but are 

 said to breed and run horses for their own 

 pleasure ; but among the many who have regis- 

 tered their colours will there be a dozen ? Mr. 

 Houldsworth is one, and Lord Falmouth was 

 another. His lordship is reputed to have once 

 betted with and lost a sixpence to a lady — the 

 wife of his trainer, in fact — to whom the coin was 

 in due time presented, set in a brooch, and sur- 

 rounded with costly gems. 



It has often been observed, as a curious feature 

 of the racing world, that the horses of gentlemen 

 who do not themselves bet become at times more 

 prominent in the turf market than the animals of 

 those who bet heavily themselves, oith^r in propria 

 persona, or by the aid of a commissioner ! How 

 comes that? It is probably because the owner 

 does not bet that the public, believing in his bona 

 fides, and that his horses will run on their merits, 

 and independent of all betting considerations, 

 rush into the market, and by largely supporting 

 them, bring them to what is called a short price. 

 Still the horses of some reputed non-bettors often 

 figure in the quotations of the turf market in a 



