The New York herald., 1870-11-16
American and English uors. Racing.

American and Eaglish Horse Racing.
A marked difference exists between the
systems Of racing in America and In England.
On this side of the Atlantic racing is en-
oouraged 0stcnsibly for the Improvement OF
the breed of horses, combined with amuse-
ment; over The water il is almost exclusively
for gambling purposes. Racing meetings in
America have always been aristecratc pas
times-"only this and nothing more" There
are, to be sure, few men in the land who
own and run horses for mere gain, but they
are so few that they would not be missed from
the turf were they to retire in body. II Is
by such gentlemen as NJ. II. Sanford, A. Bel
mont, r. Morris, John Hunter, w. r.
Travers, L. w. Jerome, Dennison &
Crawford, Mr.. Withers, r. W. Cameron, L.
G. Morris, Of tho American Jockey Club.
OF this city; Mcssrs. Alexander, II. P.
McGrath, A. Keene Richards, General Bu ford,
and others Of their class in Kentucky; J. J.
O'FaIlon, of Missouri; 7. W. boswell, Of Vir-
ginia; Messrs. Coffee, Littell and Mcdaniel,
Of New Jersey; Governor Bowie and Mr..
Hall, of Maryland, and numerous wealthy gen.
tlemen In the West and Southwest, that horse
racing has been fostcred and encouraged for
amusement alone, as these gentlemen seldom
bet on their horses, and racing must succeed
under their guidance as long as the pernicious
English system of gambling can be kept out of
our jockey clubs.
Attempts have been made by some Ameri-
can gentlemen, who have visited England and
who did not understand the evils of the Eng
lish system, to introduce bookmaking on
fixed events, handicapping, making all betting
play or pay and other schemes which give
opportunities for sharps to fleece the fats.
Some Of these Objectionable features, we are
sorry to say, have been adopted here-such,
for instance, as handicapping and making all
bets ON fixed events play or pay. Very little
mischief, however, has yet occurred from these
innovations OH the old style OF betting, and
probably few will ever occur, as American
gentlemen generally are not inclined to bet on
race until they know positively what horses
are going to start and what weight they have
TO carry. Then, our system Of betting is SO
simple and fair that the professional gambler
has no advantage over the most unsophisti-
GATED. Betting on racing through the pool
seller Is the very fairest in vogue in any
country, but the percentage on the money de-
posted on racing events should be much
reduced from the present standard. Assocla-
tions should not share in the percentage, and
the right to sell pools SHOULD be given to the
responsible man who would charge tho least
commission on the sales.
BY adhering strictly to the present mode
of p0ol-selling, one of its features being that
when a horse does not start money on him
cannot be lost, there can be no great amount
of swndling done, as frequently occurs in Eng
land, where favorite horses are withdrawn at
the last moment, and all money invested on
them is lost before the race begins. Repeti-
tions Of this kind of fraud have ruined thou
sands and have disgraced the English turf for
years. and will do so as long as bookmaking
on play or pay events is continued in Great
Britain. Handicapping good horses 80 that
they may be beaten by bad ones is another
English gambling game that should be scru-
pulously avoided by our jockey clubs.
Our wealthy classes are not great betters,
and the few dollars they risk on race is a
mere bagatelle compared with what is done
by the owners and hackers OF horses in Eng
land. The bulk Of the money laid on races in
this country is by men who never own a
race horse and never intend to, but who
follow the horses from meeting to meeting for
betting purposes, and their winnings and
losings will never affect the interests of the
Anne rcan turf