RACING ROGUERIES. 291 



there would be no occasion for striking a horse 

 out of the race at the eleventh hour, because 

 of its owner being unable to back it. It is 

 the large amount which can be won in bets 

 that renders men so mercenary. 



Speaking in a theoretical sense, it is un- 

 doubtedly more honourable for a man to strike 

 his horse out of a race at once than to leave 

 it among the competitors and arrange that it 

 shall not win, which can always be made certain. 

 The winning of a race even with the best horse in 

 the world cannot be made sure, but to lose a race 

 can be accomplished beyond a doubt, and there 

 are even gentlemeji on the turf — the more's the 

 pity — who have not scrupled to lend themselves 

 to such a fraud. It will be no exaggeration 

 to say that during the course of the year two 

 or three hundred horses will run to lose in the 

 races that take place, and if only an average 

 sum of ^100 be got out of each — in some 

 cases the result will be a gain of thousands — 

 it totals up to a large amount. 



Much of what is designated by turf critics 

 the "in and out" running of handicap horses 

 is no doubt due to such practices. One may 

 often read in the sporting journals that " the 

 running of Mr. So-and-So's horse was really 

 too bad to be true ; and we believe the animal 

 will speedily see a better day ; " which is just 

 a roundabout way of saying the horse was 

 '' pulled," or that in some other way it was 

 arranged the horse should not win the race. 

 Such phrases of the sporting press are simply 

 a way of veiling the fact of a fraud having been 

 committed. Happily there are both owners and 



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