TIPS FROM STRANGE SOURCES 111 



The odd thing is that whilst backers are always impressed 

 by these accidental tips, they often hesitate to accept those 

 which come to them with a hundredfold better credentials. 

 Here is an old sportsman's account of how he suffered from 

 a silly refusal to avail himself of a really good " tip " for 

 the Derby. I give it in his own words : — 



" Once, when at the Haymarket Theatre on the eve of 

 the Derby, I left the house and strolled into a bar on the 

 opposite side of the street for my glass of bitter, when I 

 was accosted by Charley Boyce, the jockey, whom I knew 

 very well. After some conversation, he asked me what I 

 thought would win to-morrow. I said, ' Of course, the 

 favourite, Hobbie Noble.' He replied, ' I can give you the 

 greatest certainty possible — your horse can't win. If you 

 take my tip, you will put a fiver on Daniel O'Rourke. 

 You may depend upon it he will be the first past the post.' 

 To this I demurred. He said, ' You might just as well go 

 home with ;^ioo in your pocket as not. You can get 20 or 

 25 to I about him, and if you won't have a fiver, have just 

 one sovereign, as there are plenty of houses near here that 

 will do it.'" (At that period more than half the houses in 

 the district, whether public bars, hairdressers, tobacconists, 

 or confectioners, were betting houses ; and it was the 

 existence of these places, which had sprung up all over 

 London, that compelled the legislature to pass the Act for 

 the suppression of list betting.) " I foolishly refused to 

 take Charley's tip, and returned to my friend's house at 

 Roehampton, where I was staying — there were twelve of 

 us — and we agreed to have a sweep, putting down los., viz. 

 £$ for the first horse and ^i for the second. Of course I 

 drew Daniel O'Rourke. Such was my prejudice against 

 the horse that I sold him for los., the amount I had 

 ventured. 



" The race has been so fully described that it is unneces- 

 sary to say more than that Daniel won, ridden by Frank 

 Butler; an unknown horse, Barbarian, was second; Chief 

 Baron Nicholson third ; and Hobbie Noble fourth. This 

 was indeed a sensational Derby, especially as to the second 

 horse, who, if he had won, would have landed an unparal- 

 leled coup. I heard that he arrived on the morning of the 



