282 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



" There's nought else in the race, as I'm a 

 living sinner," said the trainer; "he'll win easy, 

 see if he doesn't." 



And so in the end it proves. " Conspirator 

 jumped off with the lead, made all his own 

 running, and before he had covered a mile had 

 all the others beaten," so wrote one of the 

 journalists who chronicled the race (" won by 

 three lengths," was the verdict of the judge) ; 

 brother to Agrippa, second ; Virginia, third ; 

 Burglar broke down, and Diddle-em walked in 

 with the crowd. Sixteen ran. 



So ended this well-planned coitp. 



IV. 



That is one way of " working the oracle " in 

 order to bring off a remunerative handicap coup, 

 and many lords and gentlemen of the turf do not 

 disdain to follow so good (or bad) an example. 

 If, for instance, Sir Richard Strongman, Lord 

 Strapmore, and the Honourable Thomas Row- 

 botham have each entered three or four of their 

 horses in an important handicap, what is more 

 natural, on the turf, than that they should lay 

 their heads together to " best " the public, and 

 pull off a good thing at long odds for themselves } 

 The obtaining of '* long odds " has a great fascina- 

 tion for everybody. To win a large sum at little 

 risk is a grand desideratum in the racing world as 

 elsewhere. It is difficult nowadays, however, to 

 obtain what are called long odds. Bookmakers 

 are chary on this point, and the public, who keep 

 no horses of their own but are quick to back the 

 horses of other people, rush in when the betting 



