The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1890-03-13
/ FORTUNATE VALENTINE.
Cupid Captured IN 4 IsT ROls--A Great
Casa Of Gambling.
How the ssTiDsV 81 . LADY Proved
81 value % = Merchant.
seven seFaiGhG winners.

Baltimore Sun: A remarkable case Of
gambling luck occurred in . Baltimore
race pool on Saturday. A member Of q
large grain and -four firm who now and
then tries 10 pick out q winnerof the races
received . valentine Friday, which was
the unique production Of . lady who knew
his fondness for betting on races. The
tenor Of the verses was to tho effect that
he had better play the seventh hose on
the board for every race. a. the Judgment
would Be equally sensible o. trying to
play the horses on theirpreyious perform
ances and their supposed present form.
The merchant took the cue. after the man
ner Of all gamblers from the humble crap
player to the hlsh-priced plunesr, and
though his Judgment and the general
opinion Of the public and bookmakers
was that the seventh horse was in most
Of the races at GOttenburg frank duff
fer" he showed his valentine and asked
what odds they would lay on Q combine
ton, all six horses 10 win. Seven hun
dred dollars to q were laid willingly, a.
Ii was hardly possible that even one Of
the horses would win.
The merchant put e against tl4OO and
was laughed at for doing 90. The first
race was ct Ave fuIlones, and there were
ten starters. Bass Viol was number seven
on the board. He won. The second race
was at seven furlongs and had eleven
starters. King Idler was the seventh on
the slate. He won. The third race was
atsix iuriongs and had ten starters. Para
disc was number seven. He won. The
fourth was at one mile, with sig starters.
Wahoo beaded the list on the board and,
by counting down, the grain merchant
had to 90 70 the Top again for his seventh
horse. WahoO won. As the merchant
was also playing the horses straight on
each side Ince the othem in the room got
on TO his curves" o. Il were, and began
to take stock in his valentine and to play
the horses. The operator In singing out
the description Of the races q they were
run instead Of giving names 10 horses
designated the winner a. number seven,
and each time As be sung out the number
1t was greeted with cheers. The fifth race
was at one and quarter miles and had
Eve starters. Swift was number two on
the board, and BY the valentine count was
number seven. He won. The sixth and
last race, which was at seven furlongs,
and was to decide the bet, was exciting,
as by the time the betteFs. loungers and
other people who had heard Of the affair
crowded into the pOOlrOom 10 hear the
result. There were nine starters. Alva
was number seven on the board. He got
away in the lead and was never headed,
winning the valentine bet and q pot Of
money Of the man who made Il and for
otheFS who followed him. Every iavorite
on the board was beaten, four short horses
had won.
While the odds Of 800 10 q, which the
bookmakers laid, look enormous, glance
at the odds as laid against each individual
seventh horse on the board win show bow
much the advantage Of the transaction
the bookmakers had. Had the better
started with q and played Il straight
through the result would have been as
follows; In the first race odds Of SO to
u were offered that Bass Viol would not
win. Two dollars would have netted t22
In return. The t22 could then have been
played against the next seventh horse,
KING Idler, 1t odds Of % 10 q, which
would have melted tSs, which ct odds Of
20 TO 81 laid against Paradise would have
melted s6l0. This at IS TO q, which were
laid against Wahoo, would have realized
t5544, which at 80 to q, the odds against
Swift, would have neltsd t0e,peA This
at IS to q, Alva's odds, would have made
for the better grand total Of tS0l,9O4.
But that b what might have been. As Il
was the bookmaker only paid him tl4O2.
The odds were figured on the track odds,
whereas, II the odds as laid By baltimore
bookmakeEs, which were somewhat higher
onseverAl Of the horses, had been followed
his winnings would have been very per
ceptibly increased. The merchant IL
credited with having won besides this bet
over 1900 on playing the horses stFaight.
The bet Il eonsidered the most remark
able on record, not because the amount
won was lnrQn. hut becauaa n the sam.