258 BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. 
an old and simple rule—show that you know what is right 
and that you intend to accept nothing short of it, and you 
have gone a long way towards its accomplishment. Were 
this the custom, commissioners would perforce have to act 
honestly. They would see that such conduct is a necessity 
in a matter of trust, and that by serving their employers well 
they would be best serving themselves. They should not 
be permitted to make a bet for themselves until the com- 
mission entrusted to them was fully executed ; not an un- 
reasonable condition, for they can, and as a matter of fact 
always do, stand in for any reasonable sum in it. Some such 
plan must necessarily be adopted by owners who wish to 
remain long on the turf, and who do not choose to work 
their own commissions and totally ignore the agent; for 
then they would, if nothing else, have the satisfaction of 
knowing they have taken the market-price from a 
responsible man. 
Another effective blow might be dealt to the evils of the 
current practice of betting, by an alteration in the system of 
nominations and entries for the big handicaps, which, if tried 
and found successful, might easily be applied to other races. 
In cases when the stakes close some time before the day 
of the race, I should suggest that instead of the entries being 
made as now, the following plan should be adopted—taking 
the Casarewitch Stakes as an example. I would have it run 
pretty much as follows :— 
“The Cesarewitch Stakes, a free handicap of 25 sovs. 
each, 10 forfeit, 3 sovs. entrance. The names of 
the owners and horses to be put down at Messrs. 
Weatherty's on the ist of August, the weights to be 
declared on the ist of September, and acceptance te be 
signified three weeks before the day of the race.” 
