The morning times., 1895-08-18

| the question and merely proves that th(
| bOokmakers have far and away the best
OF the deal when il comes down 70 an issue
between them and the general public, al
a whole. The average man Will hold that
there is DO reason that he should not be tha
one 10 play winner. some one horse has TO
win, and why should he not play that an
Well as not?
| We viii admit that this might be so, but
| Onemomeut We VIII take theaveragem man
who goes to the races to play them, but IS
| not in any way connected with The track
people or any stable The natural thing
for him 70 do is 70 play the favOrites he
I has no OtherIi on the horses, and the safesJ
| plan that he eau follow is TO play the
/ horse that seems % be most faucied BIZ the
| majority OF the bettors This is what
/ he tells himself aud he therefore follows
the first choices
! Sonnet lines they come his wa and be wins,
but again lie huds that only one OF some
times no favoTites at ali are first at the
wire Say that he plays $40 0U every
fayOrite that starts Take a run hack
over the races that have been ulu on the
different tracks throughout the country
during the present racing season and see
how the favOrite player has Jared
At sheepshead Bay IN twelve days rae
ing, with seventy-JWO horses, thirty-four
favoTites won, M king a winning percent
age OF A. per cent At Brooklyn out OF
eighty-four races fOrty-two favorites won.
making a winning percentage OF so. At
Providence the percentage only amounted
20 s., with twyuty-three winning favOrites
out % sixty A. Oakley out oftwelve days
racing, with seyenty-twu races and thirty
nine winning favOrites, the percentage was
81
This latter is quite high, but II never
theleSs would not returna winning az many
Ofthe favorites must have been at a shorter
price than even money Many OF them
might have been as low as TO 8 The
lowest percentage Of any was at Hawthorne
Park, where only twenty nine favorites
won out of eighty-fOur races, making the
winning percentage %
DOUBLE-UP SYSTEM
There is still another stand that the
favOrite player might take. He might play
the ''double-up" system That is to say,
whenone favorite loses bet vice theanlount
wagered on the first race on the second,
and if that loses then double up again until
a favorite succeeds in winning.
This is all right for a while, but, Ike
every system for beating the races, it has
flaw in il. AT Guttenburg several years
ago eighteen straight favorites were
bowled over, one after another Take the
'double-up" man and starting as low as
dollar, see where he would be by the
time ten or twelve OF the first choices
had been bOwled.
IL has been plainly shown that following
the favorites does not pay. Well, suppose
the bettOF follows his own Judgment
Unless he is a thorough horseman and
understa nds the business from start to
finish, it is very doubtful if he can land
one winner out OF three races. This would
surely not pay him, no matter how be bet
his money.
There is one phase that we have not con-
Sidered at all, and that is the uncertainty
of the game so far as horses losing that
seem to completely uutcIass their fields.
Only last Wednesday, at Saratoga, Dorian,
who was recently bought by Mr. Belmont
from j. W. Rogers, was beaten by Vic
toriouS. Dorian seemed to so completely
outclass her field that the bettOr had 10
put up $40 10 win one Victorious. how
ever at odds OF 20 and 80 to 1, jumped
out, and, leading from start To finish.
Won IN a sallop.
The same thing happened at Guttenburg
a couple OF years ago, when Panway, a 40
toll shot, defeated Miss Belle, who was
quoted AZ ! 60 20 At that time there was
a piUnEer on the turf who thought thar
these Odds-on fav0rites could not win,
and be put Up twenty thousand dollars 70
wiusone Thousand Needless 10 say, he
was a wiser man after the race
AL In all. il viii readily be seen that
''bucEing the game" on a race track Is not
the easiest system Of winning money thas
can BE- found There are none of them any
too easy, but playing the races is the hard
est OF them all, and the young N an who has
j deludcd idea that he can wiu a fortune at
IL had best think twice before be tempts
fortune. 1t is q most fascinating form or
but it has dragged more good meu
lOwn TO their ruin than all the faro banks
and poker games in the country put to.
gether Where one mau wins dollar aAs
other loses fortune.