212 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



luck awaits speculators over the second race of the 

 da}?- — Clarion tirst; all have backed it; but the price, 

 when made known by the tape, staggers the chque — 

 'Even money be blowed, and seven runners !' Seeing 

 that all the horses in the daily races are backed to win 

 by some person or other, it is not a little remarkable 

 that so many of the stavting-price bookmakers win 

 money; but in the endeavour to do so they are aided 

 by tlie occasionally very short odds at which many of 

 the horses are backed. When a man takes £20 for 

 a high-mettled steed, which starts at even money, he 

 has only £20 to pay and the stakes to give back; and 

 if throe or four horses have been backed for the same 

 race, he has in all probability plenty to pay with, and 

 something over as well. If there have been as many 

 as seven competitors, the bookmaker may have taken 

 as much as £100, spread over the lot, or, if his busi- 

 ness is a largo one, twice that sum. 



Starting price is a favourite mode of backing a 

 horse with some owners. A ' plant ' is laid somewhat in 

 the following' fashion : Messrs. Brown, Jones and 

 Robinson, who each have a horse or two in a small 

 stable, find out that one of their nags is rather smart 

 at a mile, and so, with the aid of their trainer, they 

 have him placed along with a stable companion in a 

 well-selected race. The pair are taken to the scene of 

 action and made ready for the start. The owner of 

 one of the horses makes a show of backing it with two 

 or three bookmakers who are in the plot, and the herd 

 of bettors on the spot follow suit, so that the horse 

 comes to a short price. To the surprise of all present, 

 the other horse of the stable wins the race, without, to 



