The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-28
IN RACING BETS.
the RECORDS At NORRIS PARK AND
THEIR MEANINGS.
variation In the Winnings from Year to
Year The LonE-Shot Brigade. Prices
Against Fnvorites and the Enlarged En-
tries working of the Cobb system.

AHnlnkI u NNolA' Wv NV EFu NIn
tries working of the Cobb system
For four years the articles on system. fol
r,ciuC TO use a Gait phrase. have been "lecr,
OF Morris Park 1t is the track par excellence
a, tho country. tho racing is always Of q high
c,oss md tho attendance excellent. but It Is
always there that the unexpected may he
looked for. It. record is unique. In 1902 the
eurtuations in the percentage OF winning favor
,t,s that iulcrum Of practically all racing
.ystems, ranged from II to 40; in 1898 It was
Al, 4a;in 1874 from ~ to AZ: in 1895 there
was No srring meeting this track. and in 1895,
Br,oklyn, for many years the opening East
ern track, gave way to Morris Park. where the
season has since been opened very success
.uIlv. BROOKLYN had a record OF AZ per cent.
81 pcr rent. and IL per cent. and tho problem
that year was What will be the result OF the
chang, Will the Brooklyn higher percentage
r,le, or Will 'thn old and lower scale 10 main
famed - Just then the track for the Withcrs
lie was remoicllcd. and instead o. going ovor
the hill it became almost circular. a great i'm
movement. and to the surprise Of practically
every one the spring meeting rolled of a rec
ord Of - per cent 81 per cent. so per cent.
FL per cent. 80 per cent. SO per cent, s. per
cent. so per cent. 80 per cent. closing at 10
Der cent. the lowest quotation, beating all
records. cyen the phe nomenal Jerome OF 1894,
in successful flvoritos.
Then were sounded notes Of warning. Such
a record could never be cpualled again. 1t was
not. but another startling thing came in the
spring OF 1897. when not a favorite won the
first day and the percentage ran . per cent.
Is per cent. - PER cent. 80 per cent. 40 per
cent. a. Per cent. A. per cent. 46 per cent.
AZ pcr cent. ~ per cent. What was to be ex-
$500 L.. 1909 . Danynn -..I yt- 49, -.L
extreme swings the pendulum would strike q
balance. and this was at the time foretold In
these articles. The balance struck was a record
Of 80 per cent. 80 per cent, 80 per cent. 50 per
cent. ~ per cent. 80 per cent. so per cent.
81 per cent II per cent. II per cent. 80 per
cent. 30 per cent: probably the most even
record Of three favorites n day for ten days out
O. twelve. Now contrast this 1893 record
especially and all the others in general with
the record for 1899 OF 100 per cent. 66 per
cent. 90 per cent. 40 per cent. Al per cent, A
per cent. a rer cent. Al per cent. 40 per cent,
Al per cent 40 per cent. and 48 per cent. and
begin to figure that 1900 spring will almost
turn that record around in due season. Also
remember that in 1881 the only day during the
entire season in which n ~favorite did not win
was the closing day at this track fall meeting.
and then get ready 10 confess that a good sys-
TEN is more liable to pay than handicap selec-
tons.
Now to look into this record OF 1899: It is
found that thirty-three first favorites won.
with twelve getting the place. four OF these
being at less than IL on for the place: in
1873 the record was ~thirty-nine first and ten
second. with eight at less than 1-2 on OF the
second %favorites only eleven won and twenty
were second. with two less than 1-2 on: while
In 1898 twenty second favorites won and seven.
teen ran second at 1-2 on. Turning to the pro-
hibitiye f~avVrites this spring produced. May
8. Swittmas, 1-2. lost: May 10. Ethelbert. Ia.
won May II. Challenger. 2-5. won May %.
E'helbert. Ia. won: May %. Jean Beraud,
ID. won; in 8 there were three. in 1897
three. and in 1896 eight. a steady aud great
improvement. and one to be particularly noted
BY the system players.
The long-shot brigade has naturally been
out in force since the opening day in fact, most
days the lucky ones have had their look-in.
hay6. Marihet at SOL ran third: May o. Con-
tinental, bD-l. won: Banastar, t2O-1. followed
at his heels. and Latson. 2O-1. brought up the
rear May Il Nanine. COL. was second May
bart; OIL. ran second, Killashandra, 90-1,
spider; iGo@i brought signs q heart failure
,an third, two necks away, and Pres
s s;ss ! i6 81 rs s'sI th ffG 5 getfsiso May 62@ oii ss':
false start sent all but three scurryine to the
Ing finished first. second and third-Pace-
Maker. 81 Great Neck. 3O-l Knight Of the
E5E'bET Ta 2TI1. The Then w osce e %s, 23 h. ran t third
~eennamara, at l6G"i. Startled the ring.
81 i]avorites. May rs. Tyran. 81. ran thirdf.
ne thls year handed out a a record Of 5..31Ihelpesd
81 Prince d Melbourne 81. FiaX Spinner
y! Dr. EichherG ls-5.. Latson lS-5, War
i isnsGH l$S--iii N &'il Ali39s' az HGti In IN Esd isde af ia Ina,. IN IN
thls meeting lust closed there were only nine
nnhrtes starting fevorite AT less than evens.
1 Tsis m 81 ss5 5H fo St g 'w whil esin IA is ape tb se'f Se e
would have been $l5 to $50. Scale that out on.
Gay. go winning bets for the season ana see
The entries have also done nobly. there being
senn average 1toH horses to a race, no less than
~ facing the starter during the meeting. In
" , less than eight, and in 1896 a trifie over
Ok starters to the average race. This Is the
period Of expansion!
The Cobb system was fully explained In THE
EN- Of April 30. 1890. and takes the duplicate
t@av1rlte 70 win. and the duplicate second
tol-2 oh the second iavorite is never played
straight, only for the place, and is the dupli:
OF IL ,WlnnlnG or Second-running second
eholce, The bets are scaled thus: The first
oet Is. - on a $500 c%apitall. and when
mao" is placed as q marginal figure near
the ieft. hand edge oftha betting book further
across is the So showing the bet. and then the
name and odds Of the horse II won. the bet
remains at IS. When lost. the -" Ia carried
across into the marginal column and the two,
atned together. give SO for the next bet IL
this is won both IS" are cancelled and all be-
over again; il lost. the. TO- is brought iuto
.he marginal column and the top and bottom
ngures - and 10" added. give SIS for the
reIt PET II won there remains -" and 50 on.
10 hriei. start the marginal column with the
AMOUNT NJ the first bet, bring all losses into II.
adolnH top and bottom figures fornext bet, and
canceIlng all figures used to calculate the bet
won; II IS, very sim pie. and here Ia how it
worked at Morris Park:
May e. Istdor 11-5 Won
Swiftmas. lS-5....
3 s5l Nsutch Girl. FL. 10 90.
Decanter. 5-l...-.. " 90.
Douhlet. Ii .,....., Won D.,
II. r.. Highness. 2-lSecond =.
Illgrane, al ,,.., Won .
81 Ethtlbsrt. /. AL. 10 90,
%Inishfree. l3-5.. &c. Won
Patricia, 1875. Al. g..
Diversion. 7-5....., Won
Baby BIZ. 5-l ..... Soc 90.
LAY y iSwittmas, 1-2..... ,
S5 Lam, ant, I, ., So. s
Peat. s-5. .........., Won .
10 $Ioj Glengar. ia ....., 10
The BouucSr. 81, Second =.
OciagOn, lH-5 ..... o.
KlhI SlnIaEE. I - g