BOOKMAKING. 



I. 



* Had there been no bookmakers,' said John Gully, 

 ' the Derby never would have become what it is.' 

 That saying is, of course, applicable to the turf gener- 

 ally, and may be accepted without comment. The 

 professional bookmaker stands up to be shot at by all 

 comers, and goes on laying the odds at varying prices 

 on every race of the season till the horses start, and 

 on some occasions even as the animals are runninof. 



Of late years bookmakers have been well abused, 

 having been described by one turf-writer as ' swme,' 



and by another as ' swindlers,' a third capping 



these two classifications by designating them ' ignorant 

 blackguards,' which phrases, when indiscriminately 

 applied, are certainly not deserved. Many of the book- 

 makers doinoc business on our race-courses are doubtless 

 ignorant of matters not connected with their own pur- 

 suit, and probably they never interfere with the atiairs 

 of other people ; but as a rule the leading men of ' the 

 profession ' are civil enough, and eager to trade, not a 

 few of them being persons of gentlemanly deportment 

 and good manners ; some are even educated men. 

 Judging from what one sees at the various meetings, 



