The morning times., 1895-10-27
Women BettoFs Can See How
the Horses Are Played.
FOREIGN BOOK IN SIGHT
Fair PIungers Hear the Out-of-rown
Races Calied--Rush for the Rail
When the Drum Taps-Swelf Bet
tors and Pin Money Ptkers-Beat
the Books.


up the money, to run some big stable.
when the public least suspected it,
Once in a great while, more particularly
in the West, wonian's name will be seen
on a race programme. Its not, however,
in owning the flyers" that they have cut
the biggest dash, but in betting on them.
When the fever for specializing on the
ponies takes hold of a woman she goes
into the spirit of the thing with a vim and
Dash that a man never thinks OF.
Some of the biggest plungers that the
country has ever seen have been women
This seems 10 be a bold assertion. but it
is nevertheless true, as very often the
woman in the case" never appears be-
fore the eyes or the public. She is often
a rich woman who has become infatuated
with the sport and has her commissions
placed by an agent.
OFT OF THE ORDINARY. s--.
If the reader would take a visit to the
picturesque little course at st. Asaph-
first, however, taking precaution to leave
his bank roll at honIe-afd wander up into
the grand stand he would naturally expect
to see the ladies at the track sitting Sc
dately around watching the races, or, at
least, taking quiet walk in the back part
of the stand rr
What he does see, however, is exactly
opposite and is calculated to convey the
idea that he has, by some mischance wan
dered into mad house. Stretched along
the back part of the. stand, some OF them
standing on chairs and others leaning over
the railing until they are III danger of top
pling over and breaking their precious
necks, is a long line OF excited females.
Curiosity TO see what eau be so thrilhngly
interesting to these devotees of the sport,
naturally leads the stranger to skfrmish
around so he can obtain a rear view of
what is coming off. After considerable
maueuTering and with the assistance of a
chair, upon which he mounts. the why and
wherefore of the intense interest is revealed. .
The betting ring, with its half dozen
bookmakers, shouting their odds and Jost-
ling with the talent, and the foreign book
are in full sight from the back of the grand
stand. This was a very cute idea of the
designers of the st. Asaph grandstand, as
it is probably the only one in the country
where the ladies have chance to see for
themselves what is going on in ''the ring"
A DEEP MYSTERY s..a5 .-
To most women who frequent the races,
''tbe ring is a mystery. They, OF course,
form some sort OF an Idea of the general
appearance of the place. and once In
while one Of them win venture out on an
''off day to make an Inspection OF the
bookies' boxes, the combination boxes,
and, If there is such thing in the place,
the foreign book.
very poor notion can be obtained In
this way, however, of what the ring looks
like ON n race day, when everything is In
full swing and the place Is teeming with
pushing, struggling mass OF masculine
humanity, who nearly tear each other to
pieces in their efforts to get their money
on some 'hot tip"
OF course the ring at st. Asaph, even
on a day when the Attendance, is at its
best is on a very small scale, and is as
different from such place on one of the
big tracks in the North as Christmas is
from the Fourth OF July At the little
outlaw track across the river there have
never been more than twenty-five books
doing business at one time, and thenormal
number is six, while the books on holiday
at Sheepshead Bay or Gravesend ru over
a hundred.
"A half loaf" however, ''is better than
none at ALL" and the ladies at st. Asaph
string themselves along the rail and gaze
down into the ring from the time the
betting Is posted in the first race until
the winner has weighed out after the last.
In addition TO the ring proper they also
have the Foreign book" which Is by far
the most interesting part of the whole
performance.
START BY A DRUM
This Is a very picturesque attribute
VI 1dtc tAd1ht anu W Tue
is also the most puzzlng. At st. Asaph
the starting of race is announced by the
tapping of a little drum, and before its
merry rattle has died away the deep-toned
voice of the caller is heard giving the
positions of the horses at the start, and
then following them on their journey
to the finish OF the race.
1t is when this little drum taps that the
scene is most Interesting. Many of the
nnt n cfa
have become engaged in conversation with
some admirer when the first tap is heard.
They all want TO obtain point of vantage
and those who can not get near enough to
the rail to hear the description drag up a
chair and, despite the protests of the
officers OF the stand. Chamber on it, or hang
on to their escorts while they stand on their
tip-toes and eagerly listen to catch every
word of the "cali-"
Some of them have merely wagered a
portion of their pin money, while others
have gone IN deeper and have "swell hets''
down on the result. The size of the bet
does not appear to make any difference
whatever in the interest they take fn the
race, and those who win a little ''pin
money are Just as radiant when luck
comes their way as the ones who make a
'skilIing." On the other hand, the woman
who bets a dollar OF so to a race seems to
take ii more to heart when things 60
wrong than does the one who easily skins
q hundred off her roll and sends it down on
q loser.
1t is a deplorable fact, but when it comes
to betting the fair sex are not one-half as
honest as are the men. This is hard to say,
but 1t is true. Just why It is, no one can
tell, but the truth of this assertion was
proven one day at the st. Assph track in a
most emphatic manner.
SENT IN BY MISTAKE. '9S"'-
BY the carelessness of an operator q race
was confirmed" one day, by mistake. 1t
was run at one of the western tracks and a
horse that had come in first was disqualt-
fled on foul. This occurs now and then
but the foreign book is made aware Of the
fact before they pay out any tickets.
On this occasion, however. the operator at
the other end of the line must have smoked
a pill or two" before he sent off the race, as
ti1e whole thing was confirmed and several
hundred dollars were payed out before the
mistake was corrected. .lss..--... .- g..
This was where the fair ladies got In their
work. They had many of them, bet on. the
race and had cashed in before the mistake
was learned. They, OF course, went down
and returned the money-nit- Indeed, they
made no secret of having gotten the best OF
the book. The best part of them appear to
regard the game as a skin one, all the way
through, and when they got the best OF 1t
went so far as 10 congratulate each other.
In Justice to them, however, it must be
said that the men were not much better,
as the ones who went back and returned
the money were few and far between
Several of the big bettors who had col
lected on the race returned the ill-gotten
cash, but the small pikers kept very much
In the background
rothor bouafif that the ladies' derive