198 NEWMARKET 



cantering by his side as pleasantly as a lady's hack. 

 But in spite of this, though it must have been evi- 

 dent to anyone that Trappist did not intend to try, 

 and was thoroughly sulky, yet the bookmakers gave 

 him all their support because " it was his day." 

 As was to be expected, Ecossais came right away 

 from him, winning easily ; and great was their wrath. 

 The principal bookmakers have their regular 

 stations in the ring, where they can be readily 

 found by their customers ; and as they stand there 

 with a pleasant smile on their faces, the old nursery 

 rhyme, " Ducky, ducky, ducky, come and be killed," 

 always comes forcibly into my mind. A very 

 clever-looking set of men they are, and some of 

 them have really intellectual faces. Most wonder- 

 ful calculators they are too ; the power they have 

 to tell at a glance how much they have got in their 

 books, and the way in which they can subdivide 

 the odds at a moment's notice, is most extraordinary. 

 A marked contrast to these great bookmakers are 

 the small would-be bookmakers, who rush all about 

 the ring, bothering anyone they see who has been 

 betting or they think likely to bet, offering the most 

 absurd odds as an inducement. The first day of any 

 race-meeting these gentry abound ; but by the end 

 of the week most of them have disappeared, having 

 retired, I suspect, into the outer ring, and here 



