138 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



who, althongli blind, savo the horse win with a hoy on 

 his back as pale as death, A person who had a secret 

 of the turf in his possession, and who posed as an old 

 railway-guard, sent Doncaster to all his inquirers, as 

 certain to win both the Derby and the St. Leger — not 

 a bad tip, certainly, seeing that the horse started at 

 the remunerative odds of 40 to 1 for the Derby, and 

 won the race, while for the St. Leger he was second to 

 his stable companion, Marie Stuart. It is a curious 

 fact of tipping and touting that greenhorns, who ex- 

 pend a shilling or two in the way indicated, have 

 often on their tirst trial backed a winner. 



With his more than thirty 3^ears' experience of 

 tipsters and their work the writer is well warranted 

 in saying ' they are a failure.' This is susceptible of 

 easy proof. There is, for instance, a persistent bouncer 

 in the line who advertises that last year he absolutely 

 gave over GoO winners ; but as racing goes on for over 

 250 days of the year, and seven races on the average 

 are run each day (on some days there are three or 

 four meetings going on), it is clear enough that his 

 winners would not anything like balance his losers; 

 as a matter of fact, this man's tips, like the production 

 of Shakespeare at Drury Lane, spelt 'ruin' through- 

 out the year. This tipster, at the time this book was 

 in process of printing, gave 31 horses for one day's 

 racing (three meetings), and out of the lot he found 

 three winners— one at 7 to 1, another was an even 

 money chance, whilst the other started at odds on ! 

 But at the close of the season this man will probably 

 be shouting with all his might that he has 800 winners 

 to his credit for the season ! After all, the eccentric 



