MODERN BETTING ILLUSTRATED, ETC. 217 



would not often cover previous losses ; it might 

 happen on occasion that ^100 would require to 

 be risked to win ^30, so that in the event cited 

 a loss of over ^224 would be sustained on the 

 run of six non-successful mounts in the sequence, 

 and it is needless to say that a series of such 

 misfortunes would speedily exhaust a pretty 

 well-filled bank. 



To the uninitiated in turf mysteries, for 

 whom this book is more immediately intended, 

 it may be necessary to explain that a "sequence " 

 may be arranged to extend over any number of 

 mounts from two to twelve, or even a greater 

 number if that were practical, which it is not, 

 because in such case the sum to be invested 

 could not be " got on," it would have become 

 so large. The sum fixed upon as a stake may 

 be for any reasonable amount from ^i to ^20, 

 only it is not desirable to fix it at a very large 

 amount for the reason just given — it would swell 

 to an unmanageable size. Taking £^ as a 

 representative sum, it will be seen that before 

 the seventh trial, should the six previous efforts 

 have failed, a smart sum of money will have been 

 expended — the following amounts, in fact : ^5, 

 £\o, ^20, £a,o, /8o, 2^160, or a total of ^^315. 

 The next stake invested, in the event of none of the 

 six having proved fruitful, would amount to ^630, 

 and if that also should be lost, it would, of course, 

 swell the total. On the other hand, ^630 in- 

 vested on a race at 2 to i, would yield a return 

 of ^1,260, and thus, after deducting the money 

 lost, yield a capital profit. 



The vicissitudes experienced from time to 

 time by backers of horses would, if related at 



