154 



Probably the greatest race where there was a ringer 

 was one that occurred some years ago at Latonia. There 

 was a fast Eastern plater called Tanner, bought by the 

 Brannon brothers, of Nashville, and by them entered as a 

 maiden called Polk Badget. They appeared at Latonia with 

 the bogus Polk and arranged for a killing. In the first race 

 where he was entered they fairly deluged the pool rooms 

 all over the country with bets on his chances. The odds 

 were very large, and the maiden was backed down to almost 

 odds on. 



There was a tremendous amount of money in the ring, 

 and it was all put down by the Brannons or men in on the 

 play. Polk Badget went to the post, got started with the 

 others, and made the bunch resemble a Spanish peseto in 

 war time. He won all the way as he pleased, and the 

 Brannons lost no time in collecting as soon as the race was 

 over. They were afraid they would be caught and they 

 could afford to take no chances. At first the deception was 

 not suspected and the Brannons cleaned up about $90,000. 

 Then some man of a prying mind began to see a resem- 

 blance between Polk Badget and Tanner. The whole mat- 

 ter came out, but it was too late to recover and the grand 

 coupe had been effected. 



Just prior to this occurrence the same people are sup- 

 posed to have worked the Ijouisville Jockey Club and the 

 bookmakers of the Kentucky city. They may have entered 

 Tanner as Little Dan, an unknown horse. It was in a purse 

 race and there was nothing especial in it to beat. Every- 

 body had heard of Little Dan before, and he had never been 

 known to win a race or even make a showing. In conse- 

 quence the odds against him were big. 



But they could not keep the secret that they were 

 going to make a killing, for a little stable boy heard of it 

 and he told it over at the feed store the morning of the day 

 when it was to come off. Of course, it was noised about in 

 that circle of people and the result was that the Brannons 

 did not get all the profit. The feed store people got down 

 for several hundred dollars. But the bookmakers were 

 cleaned up good and strong, and when they learned that 

 they had been fleeced out of their money they were highly 

 indignant that any man should be allowed to remain on the 



