250 BETTING AS IT IS. 
The commission agent, or commissioner, is an important 
factor in the present system of betting, and now deserves a 
word, for with him most racing men have unfortunately too 
much to do for their own benefit. 
Asarule, few owners of racehorses keep them purely for 
the pleasure of seeing them run. Some are content to rest 
their hopes of profit on winning the stakes alone, but the 
majority prefer to back their horses. It is to the latter, and 
to the latter only, that the following remarks chiefly apply. 
Gentlemen of princely fortune can afford to keep studs, and 
large ones too, without the uncertain aid of success. These 
require no agents. They consult only their own pleasure 
when and where and how often they shall run their own 
horses. But it is a very different matter with those whose 
means are limited and who race for gain as well as for love 
of the sport. Such gentlemen hope, and very properly so, 
to turn to profitable account the knowledge they possess of 
the merits of their own horses; and a well-digested plan 
often brings the coveted success without the aid of the 
commissioner. 
But the purchase and keep of racehorses and the atten- 
dant expenses are so very heavy, that racing for stakes alone 
is not a sufficient inducement to attract the many ; it is only a 
very few that can indulge in the sport with this object. Hence 
it is that betting is so popular with owners, and that the com- 
missioner is unfortunately so often called in to do what the 
owner could do so much better for himself. The first thing a 
gentleman does after finding a good horse, is indirectly to 
impart the fact to his commission agent, with a request that 
he will back the animal for him for £1,000 or £2,000 as the 
case may be. This is generally done badly, and the trainer 
or jockey (who may have ridden in the trial) blamed for 
