173 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



advantnge of bao^ging all the money for those animals 

 which, from various causes, are struck out of the race. 



When ' the favourite/ or any other animal which 

 has been prominent in the betting, is scratched, it 

 is the best of all news to the layer of the odds, how- 

 ever mortifying it may be to the poor backer. A 

 typical book on a big handicap has been given in the 

 preceding remarks as being of the extent of £1,000, 

 but much larger books are made ; all, however, are 

 made in much the same fashion, and for the £ s. d. of 

 a £10,000 book the reader can multiply the figures 

 previously given by ten. It is alwa3's difficult to 

 obtain exact knowledge as to the manipulation of some 

 of the large books which are nowadays opened on 

 some of the more important races. Many of the more 

 active of the bookmakers hack horses as well as lay 

 the odds against them ; the f.ict is, the bookmakers of 

 the perio;l get to know so much that they cannot 

 restrain themselves. One of them, for instance, will 

 know that Sir George Blank's horse has been so 

 highly tried for some given race that, in the opinion 

 of his trainer, he cannot be beaten ; therefore he backs 

 that horse to win him a thousand or two, and if he 

 values the information very highly, he * peppers ' all 

 the others by laying more against them than he ought 

 to do. What one bookmaker does, many others do, so 

 that, as a matter of fact, there is no really fiiir and 

 square laying of the odds to a measured sum ; on the 

 contrary, there is much gambling, and on occasions — 

 a necessary corollary, as it may be said — a sad break- 

 down. 



J3ookmakers, as a rule., take care to be well in- 



