The Washington critic., 1888-05-26
WHO .rlxEs, RACrs2 ?
The Advantages 81 Mutueis and tn,
Books Compared.

The Advantages m Mutueis and the
Books Compared.
A Louisville correspondent of the Chi |
cago Int =. OCEAN who object to the sub !
or mutuel pools for the book |
makers at the racing tracks, has the fol-
lowing to say about IL IL is not the
bookmakers who "fx" the race, but the
owners who run their horses fOi "Tork"
and after giving them bucket of water
or two, their object being to deceive the
book-makcrs, get long odds against their
horse, and then sail in and get the book
makers money by winning good stake
with n comparatively small outlay. That
book-makcrs have been mixed up IN
"nxed" races is very possibly true, but
there never was n speculative business
vet in which some one did not do crooked
work on both sides, and you might Just
as well condemn the whole Stock Ex.
change because several stocks are watered
and Jay Gould has occasionally rugged
the market.
Another complaint against the book.
makers is on account ofthe odds they Law.
Now the writer has seen racing and is
conversant with turf speculation in every
country in the world, and has glanced at
the odds and backed his fancy in Eng
land, France, Germany, Austria, Italy
Australia India and lastly in America,
and he can safely say that in no country
in the world are the odds on favorites and
sure" things that is horses that ought
not to lose unless they fall down and
which really win five times out of six, as
liberal as they are in this country but
when you come to outsiders then the odds
are shorter. here than anywhere else
Here a man will lay 9 to against horse
that has not 1C0 to l chance which his
English cOnfrere would lay the full 100
and possibly 200. But at the same time
this Is really in favor Of the public.
Many man will puts 50 and $40 against
u horse that is marked up 100 tu ! against
when hC would not touch it NJ q TO l. and
he might just as well throw his money in
the gutter. lfa horse is going to win he
will win Just as easily ut q to as he will
at 100, and If he wins then the odds were
not 9 to | against him But the public
will not see this. The great majority of
men who go to races seem to be of the
opinion that The book.m ikcr mentally
calculates the chances of such and such q
horse winning and lays the odds accord
ingly.
lie may possibly open his book in this
way, but il is the money bet on horse
that makes ;he odds. In England where
the book maker does not expose his prices
as he does here, the bo k-maker has
much greater chance of rounding Off his
books In this country the great thing
the hook makers have TO contend with is
that in most of the races only two or three
horses are backed, and if either of these
win, then they lose. A book.maker opens
up his book something like this:
Brigunette.
10 NiranZa.
g Norma.
Cupid.
Buckeye.
Cheney.
The public rush to back Buckeye, and
from to the bookmaker shifts his odds
to . to /, and lengthens his odds against
Cupid say to 1. When at this price
lot of money goes on Cupid, and he will
then lay b to 2 against Buckeye and
shorten the price against Cupid to 4 to /,
and let out a point or two on the Others.
He will alternately lengthen or shorten
the prices as the public back the horses.
If a horse is not backed at all he will say
any price against 1t in reason. Then If
the weight of money is great on one horse
from odds against it the betting will be
odds on it. Sometimes he will open with
odds on q horse and finish with odds
against it. This is not because the book
maker thinks that horse will win, but
simply because the public back another
horse.
A book-malier who knows his business
should not allow any private opinion
about the race at all to influence him, but
merely make his book on arithmetical
principles, and the man who does this is
sure to win in the long run. The book
maker who "touts" on the outside, and
backs his "fancy holding out'-that is,
not laying against this or that horse-is
Just as sure TO go "broke" in the end as
the hacker is. Now, with regard to the
other systems, namely, Paris mutuel and
auction pools. Mr.. Jerome, Colonel
Clark and several writers will have IL thlt
these are the only honest ways OF betting,
and that it is impossible to do any crooked
work in these systems. Thisis utter non
sense. What is to hinder q man pull
ing his horse to get the better of the pool
box, MS well AS to get the better of the
book maker?.
Where will you see more dishonesty
practictd in horse-raclng than on the
trotting track where both these systems
are in vogue? For one Job" there is
on the running track there are twenty on
| the trotting. This is fact That cannot
be gainsaid. Then as to the mutuel sys-
TEN protecting the public-this is rot.
Any one that knows anything about it,
knows that it was because of the dishon-
esty prs cticed in the mutuel toxes that
the public would have nothi ~ more To
do with them.
The proprietor may be honest enough,
| but What is TO prevent the clerks 'ring-
ing mp" fifty tickets on the winning horse
as he is leading into the stretch? The au-
thorities quoted say that the public pre-
fer this form of betting. The pro lf Of the
! pudding IS in.the eating of it, and, if any
thing were needed to show that the pub
lic do not prefer it, one has only to. go
back to last year at Chicago where the
mutuel boxes shut down after the first
two days because no one patronized them,
and to the meeting here, where there is
an auction pool stand, and, up to date,
not single auction pool has been sold
except at the hotel the evening before.
Another thing against the mutuels and
auction pools is the commission charged.
Keno is gambling game that is uniyer-
sally condemned, and even in gambling
towns is often prohibited on account OF
the commission. Well, mutuels and auc-
tions are little better than keno. If $50
is taken OIL every II 900, il Is only ques-
ton of time when the box will get all the
money. Fancy, too, men like Mr.. Haggin
or Corrigan, who back their horses for
thousands of dollars, taking say $4,000
worth of mutuel tickets; why they would
be putting their money against lot OF
small betters, and with the percentage off
they would have no return at all.
| ---------
How They Execute in Spain.
Spanish executions are run in some
what peculiar way. On the llth instant
young woman, her lover and an ac-
conIplice were garroted IN Madrid.
TwenJy-four hours before the time fixed
for their death they were first told when
they would cease to live. Then they
were taken to the prison chapel and kept