2q8 the blue ribbon of the turf. 



£1 is risked to win los., tlie backor at £1 would only 

 be entitled to receive 17s. Gd., thus losing 2s. 6d. by 

 the transaction ! This has occurred often, and to what 

 is called ' big money.' 



^[uch controversy has at various times taken place 

 as to what is starting price, and how it is to be made 

 known. It is on the one hand contended that at all 

 race meetings the price at which the various horses 

 start for any given race is different at different places, 

 i.e., in the various rings — one man may be laying 

 2 to 1, while another may be shouting 9 to 4, or even 

 5 to 2, about the same horse. It is obvious, therefore, 

 that for behoof of starting-price backers an average 

 must be struck ; and in that case arises the question, 

 Who is the man to strike it ? Practically, every 

 starting-price bookmaker informs his customers that 

 he settles by the prices quoted, in a given newspaper. 

 All the sporting papers have representatives in the 

 ring, whose duty it is to gather the prices and quote 

 the odds. At the end of each race described, the 

 betting is duly set forth — and, speaking roundly, 

 there is usually very little difference to be found in 

 the quotations given by tlie diff'ert-nt papers — and the 

 prices collected find their way into all the daily and 

 other prints which devote a portion of their space to 

 racing intelHgence, so that bookmakers obtain a large 

 choice of references to select from. Doubts are often 

 expressed that the real odds are not given, and cases 

 have been cited in favour of those holdinsf such 

 opinions. There are two cases in point wdiich may be 

 mentioned. The odds laid against the winning horse 

 in each case were quoted by most of the papers as 



