RACING ROGUERIES. 289 



the fact that a commission has been executed for 

 a particular horse, they rush pell-mell to follow 

 the lead, and in consequence the animal is speedily 

 quoted at a price that will admit of splendid 

 hedging, and in working a grand coup it is gene- 

 rally deemed prudent to hedge. 



Gentlemen who race from their love of sport, 

 or for the honour of the turf, do not, as has 

 been hinted, recognise such doings as it is the 

 mission of Mr. Smooth to carry out. When they 

 find, after a trial with some horse of their own or 

 one borrowed from a friend, that they have no 

 chance of winning the race for which the horse 

 has been entered, they at once strike it out of 

 that race — " scratch it " is the usual phrase em- 

 ployed — so that the public may not be induced to 

 back it. On the other hand, there are owners 

 who never scratch their horses unless they find 

 their intention of backing them anticipated by the 

 public. In such cases, finding they cannot back 

 the animal at their own price, they teach indis- 

 criminate backers a lesson by withdrawing it from 

 the race. It has become a debatable point in 

 the ethics of horse-racing whether the owner of 

 a horse, having once entered it in a public race, 

 should withdraw it from participation in that race 

 from not being able to back it on his own terms, 

 because of Tom, Dick, and Harry having been 

 more active than he has been in dealing with the 

 bookmakers, and so forestalling him in the market. 

 There are certain horses in every race which the 

 public will not be withheld from backing ; they are 

 estimated on a review of their previous form to 

 have such a fine chance, that no sooner is their 

 weight for any given handicap made known, than 



u 



