The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-08-07
BETTING ON RACES.
A Ouarter of q Million Dollars
Chan9ing Hands In q Single
Day.
How the "Plun9er, Lorillard and
the Dryers Back Horses Tor
Enormous Amounts.
New York Sun.
John how much do I owe you?
2eventaen fiftv.

mo0ey 1IOW III iu1lOe pUCAcIs CVuut0u
out seventeen 500 notes. and adding
. $50 note to the pile, handed it to
the man who had said seventeen fifty,
The two men were sitting on the
starboard side of the steamboat, st.
John, forward on their way to the
Monmouth park races. They were
Young members of the bookmaking
maternity, and were surrounded BY
betting men and others connected with
the turf. A cool breeze coming in
through the gsngways rendered the
party good.humored and sociable.
How many book-makers are there !
incurred an interested listener.
Forty-two, replied one of the guild.
How much money do you book on
on an average race day?
How much passes through our
hands
Yes.
On q good day, at Sheepshead bay,
for instance, the heavy men will av-
erage $1,000 each while some of the
new light weights will not book more
than few hundred dollars.
What is the highest bet ever booked
in this country?
The Plunger bet Horton, Charley
Reeds partner, SIC, 900 to s14, 900 on
GiroAe, in her race with Barrett and
Bootack last fall at Sheepshead bay,
and Charlie Reed bet the Plunger
another $4,000 even on the same
race. That was the biggest sweep
in a sing lie race.
Who is the freest better among
horsemen
Pierre Lorillard. He has placed
$4,000 on a race He bats in an
of-hand, indiscriminate way, and
backs his own horses handsomely.
The Dryers back their stable heav.
lily at times, as well as the horses of
other owners. They are more care
full than Pierre. Ex.Gov. Bowie is
q strong hacker. The owners of the
horses run under shrewd old Eph
Snodekers name, including Gebhard,
occasionally dive in deeply in fact
all the owners, trainers, jockeys and
even stable boys take their chances.
When betting in the great ring
becomes dull, the book-makers often
lump at each other. Gray-headed
James E. Kelly, when the fit is on,
will. put up from s., 600 $4,000. He
has won and lost more money probab-
II than any other member of the fra
ternity. When q young man he
worked at plastering for q dollar q
day. One hot Saturday night be
threw down his tools, swea ing that
he would starve before he would
handle them again. Young David
johnson, con of Thomas. is the most
impulsive gambler in the ring. His
shout of 1910 600 to 81 900" was the
cause of his paying over the former
amount to q brother book-maker re-
Gently. Cridge Il Co. and a few
others will risk many thousands on q
race, but the majority confne their
possible losses to about 5000.
Heavy individual betting is excep
tional, however. The bulk of the
money which sometimes aggr gates q
quarter of a million day in books
mutual and auction pools and combi
nations comes from the general throng
of race-goers.
In the crowd that journeys to the
races, are groups of rollicking, wide
awake Irishmen. Many of them are
saloon keepers, livery stable keepers
tradesmen and politicians. They have
plenty of money, and they all bel
freely. On hearing them discuss the
merits of the horses. what weights
they can carry and win, what distance
suits them best, which is the fastest
horse on dry track, and which is the
best slayer in the mud, one wonder:
how they can possibly lose. That
they do lose may he inferred from
the maledictions hurled on the home.
ward trip at horses and jockeys who
the losers swear, might have won il
thew had ridden differently.
Next in number comes marketmen
and prosperous dealers who begin
their labors in the morning and finish
by noon, and others whose work com
mences at gaslight and lasts until thu
small hours, Brokers, club men
men about town, actors, sporting mer
of all grades, professional men OF ligh
practice, sinecure ofice-holders, gen
tlemen of leisure and their families
clerks and young fellows on theil
summer vacation, literary men engag
ed on fourishing weekly and MONTH!
publications, and billiard men all hell
to swell the crowd. Women have be
come imbued with the betting manis
until there are now hundreds of regu
lar betting spectators in the ladies sec