TOUTS AND TIPSTERS. 135 



a testimonial to his Newmarket tout because he had 

 been so fortunate as to predict the winner of one of 

 the classic races ! Lut, really, there was no merit in 

 his doing so; other touts selected the sam.e animal, 

 but refrained from crowing over their feat. The tout 

 now alhided to writes upon occasion as if he were 

 infallible ; in reality, he selects as few winners as most 

 of his kind, and it is instructive to look back upon 

 what he hrfe Avrittcn — after the event. It was amusing 

 to find this great horse-watcher, when it was necessary 

 to give a tip for the Cesarevvitch of 1881, saying, 

 ' They may back Robert the Devil that please, but I 

 shall stand Big Jemima!' Of course he was 'not in 

 it that time,' and when the race was run there were 

 no jubilant quotations from former articles, pointing 

 out the winner. With regard to the ' classic races,' 

 as they are called, there is no merit in selecting one 

 or two of the best two-year-olds to win the Two 

 Thousand Guineas, nor is there much merit to be 

 accorded to the tipster who selects the winner of the 

 Two Thousand Guineas to win the Derby, should 

 that horse be entered to take part in the race. 



Besides the newspaper men, whose doings in tipping 

 have just been reviewed, there are the circular men, 

 who publish weekly sheets containing notes on past 

 and forthcoming events, as also a programme of the 

 coming races, each horse having a number attached to 

 it, so that it can be referred to in an advertisement. 

 There are at least half a dozen such circulars of a re- 

 putable kind among turf-men, as ' Locket's,' ' Judex's,' 

 * Mentor's,' etc. There are also some of another kind, 

 which need scarcely be further noticed ; it is so easy for 



