2i6 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



To back the horses ridden by certain jockeys 

 has for years past been one mode of speculation 

 on the turf. It was first brought to the notice 

 of the pubHc by a Mr. John Denman, who acted 

 for a time as a racing commissioner, and who 

 maintained (he pubHshed an elaborate essay on 

 the subject) that it would prove profitable to 

 back horses ridden by men who were always 

 winning. 



In persistently following Barrett, Watts, Wood- 

 burn, Canon, or Loates, or any other jockey, the 

 plan of putting down a given sum on each mount, 

 win or lose, may be adopted, or a particular 

 jockey may be followed in sequences of six or 

 seven trials, or even a lesser number at pleasure, 

 the stake being doubled on each occasion of a 

 loss, till the end of the sequence, and in cases — 

 no uncommon occurrence — of a sequence running 

 out before a win has been secured, beginning 

 again. There are many, some even well versed 

 in turf affairs, who probably think it almost im- 

 possible that Loates, Canon, or Barrett or some 

 equally clever horseman, could be unsuccessful 

 for seven consecutive turns ; but should the 

 jockey selected prove unsuccessful even four 

 times running, and then at the fifth trial score 

 a win, the very meagre price usually offered 

 against a popular rider proving victorious — 

 indeed, the horse entrusted to him very often 

 starts with odds betted on it — renders the winning 

 account, on most occasions, anything but pro- 

 fitable. It is not sometimes a very easy matter 

 to invest a large sum on a comparatively small 

 race, and in connection with the mounts of the 

 more popular jockeys the investment of ^320 



