The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-06
WOMEN AT THE RACES.
ARE WOMEN MORE RECKLESS
GAMBLERS THAN MEN.

ninGs and LOsings-ChiIdren at the
! Track.
New York, July 4.-"Now let me see,
dear. Don't you think Teakettle would
be a good horse to play?"
He's the favorite: you'd get a lit
| tie more of a run for your money.
| though, on Jim Dandy"
"Oh, give me Jim Dandy, then, by
| all means
The first speaker was a dear old lady.
/ and he who advised Jim Dandy looked
| suspiciously like her son. With her
was another old lady, just as sweet as
she. They were delightful persons, who
| knew exactly what to do with any
baby when it woke up in the night with
pain in its little tummy; but there
| they were, betting away at the races
and having the time of their lives.
Is it true that, given an opportunity,
| women are more reckless gamblers
| than men? Really, visit to the race
track would seem to show some truth
! in the assertion.
There is rather an impression that
the women who care financially. which
| horse is first at the post. who turn
| pale when they see a yellow and black
| blouse jostle one of purple and blue
| from the inside position, are necessarily
| of the loud" variety, with hair that
! even Charity herself must admit to be
at least suspicious. Such is not the
| case. At a great race in this country.
as in those across the water, all sorts
| and conditions of women are to be
| found. Some are of aggressive person.
allty, truly, but the majority are or
| binary, nice" women out for a holi-
| day. But the things that they do when
| fortune faVors them or disaster over
takes their sporting ventures, are not
always ordinary!
There are women who play the
races" with the persistency of the
"sportiest" man, who are born and by
custom gamblers. These haunt the
track at all races. They go alone; they
DO not put on their f1nery, and they
show little or no emotion, one way or
the other. With them business is bust
| ness. The more interesting portion of
| the spectators is that made up of wo-
men who follow the sporting columns of
| the newspapers with more or less in
terest and see the track two or three
times season. Their emotions are not
| blunted; their enthusiasm has not
evaporated with habit. They can, and
| DO, make a great deal of noise.
The types of a race track. It is the
place of all places for the student Of
| Nl9Ioos 10 9pBJS HI9AT '9Inleu usunu
is represented. Up aloft are the rich
| and great, in boxes which have the
advantage over those of the theater
| in that one can see from them; but
| this disadvantage, that ones gowns
| cannot be on exhibition. Below, on
the benches of the grand stand, sit
the women who did not come in par
| ties, or who do not expect to be rich
| until after the race of the day has
been run. The huge grand stand
| stretches away beyond the winning
| post on each side, but all can see
well enough, and even if one couldn't,
the scraps of conversation which float
around the seats are almost as in
| teresting as the spectacle on the
track.
Down near the front of the grand
stand one finds the enthusiasts who
| came early to secure the best seats
| Over the railing are spread sheets and
| sheets of newspapers which give the
| past performances" of the runners A
woman of this type has a pencil and
glances continually from her racing
card to the papers as she makes notes
| She works hard-she has come there
| to make money, and is not going to
| bet merely on the horse with the pref
| test name. From the direction of the
| betting ring comes her escort; she
| leans over in excitement and consults
! with him for few minutes. Then she
hands over to him a pile of green
backs, and he disappears to place her
money. For women, even the sporti-
est are forbidden the charmed
precincts of the betting ring.
woman suffrageD Then, If one
is interested in such types, one watches
the girl as the race Is called. She
stands up and fixes her field glasses.
Her face changes it's expr ession on an
average of once a second. She shouts
encouragement to the horse of her
choice, dances about wildly as he
presses hard on the one in the lead,
and collapses limp in her seat when the
rival orange and green dashes in first.
But she is a good loser; most women
at the race track have that virtue. She
even smiles at the winning Jockey
f9intly, but with the real sporting spirit
when he takes his seat in the floral
horseshoe of the victor and is carried
on mems shoulders to receive the ap-
plause of the grand stand
In fact, women are rather better
losers than winners, SO far as their ex-
preston of emotion goes. Up in the
boxes one good soul, who is obviously
every minute of the race, has won on
the orange and green. Long after the
clapping of the crowd has begun to die
down one hears her palms working
vigorously up aboves More than that,
her laughter rings from one end of the
stand to the other. The girl below, who
has lost, Slances up and smiles with le-
covered cheerfulness. Then they both
set to work, the one to recoup her fall
en- fortunes, and the other, probably. to
lose all her winnings in an attempt to
double them. But, oh, the excitement
she will have before she goes home as
poor as when she left or a good deal
poorer! For your true philosopher
with the sporting spirit goes to the
races with just SO much as he or she
can afford to lose. If fortune favors
well and good, but anyway, there is a
glorious run for the money.
AS the races follow one after the
other the women grow more and more
enthusiastic. Among them circles the
betting commissioners. Since MANY
women go down to the track without
the escort of man, merely taking along
another woman as a companion these
men who circulate through the crowd
ed seats are their only way of COM
municating with the betting ring. The
commissioners are fairly mobbed as
time passes and the race is sure to be
called in d very few minutes.
Gracious l didn't realize there was
so much money in the world" groaned
one as he escaped from the mob one
particularly crowded day.
In the wide space between the grand