BETTING. 801 



so-called " certainty " as the Tnrf seems to 

 afford. The horse had never been better, all 

 the conditions of the race suited him, he had 

 the best rider, there was a small field, and the 

 course was a straight one, where it seemed 

 beyond the bounds of possibility that he could 

 be shut in. To back him was, in familiar 

 phrase, " to coin money." No one for a single 

 second imagined — as proved to be the case — 

 that he would twist a plate on his way to the 

 post, so that a nail running into his foot entirely 

 prevented him from galloping. 



A frequent source of grief to men who back 

 horses — though usually at the outset of their 

 career, for they learn wisdom — is a belief in 

 ''systems." Some of these look so charmingly 

 simple on paper that a fortune must be within 

 the backer's grasp, he cannot but feel convinced. 

 This is notably the case with the seductive idea 

 of starting with a small stakes, backing the 

 favourite each time, and doubling losses till a 

 favourite wins, as statistics prove he does rather 

 more than once in three races. Infallible in 

 theory, it fails lamentably in practice. 



There are, of course, men who bet heavily 

 year after year ; but they are usually men whose 

 private fortunes enable them to afford the 

 luxury of supporting the ring ; and it is a well 



