Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-22
THE HORSE MICROBE

I don't suppose" said an old horseman
| out at the Benning track, that many fell
lows of the kind we call regulars are
| manufactured down here in Washington
| because there's not enough racing here for
| that; but that's how the regulars are
| made"
He pointed to a. flushed young chap,
| clearly novice at the racing game, who
| was backing away from one of the book
makers paying-off lines. The young fell
low had fair-sized bundle Of yellow bills
| in his hands, and he was counting them.
There was an eager. exultant, delighted ex-
preston on his youthful countenance. and
excitement danced In his eyes. He had
won a good betl It was all SO easy, this
horse-race betting! He stuffed the bills
into his pocket and rushed away into the
center OF the betting ring to see the
prices on the next race. The old turfman,
leaning against one Of the betting ring
stanchfons, had been studying the lad quiz
ideally. He was an old hand himself, had
owned great horses. had won and lost
many fortunes. and he knew the game. He
has small string Of horses that are only
fair out at the track. and he occasionally
wins a purse with one OF them. And this
at the end OF thirty years Of connection
with the thoroughbred game, as bookmaker,
player, owner, trainer-sometimes worth
hundreds Of thousands. at other times re-
There was shrewd expression in his gray
eyes, and many tiny wrinkles lined his face.
He chewed straw meditatively and
watched the lad count his bills and rush
away.
II should judge" he went on, that that's
about the first fair-sized bet that youngster
has so far pulled down, and he was so
elated over 1t that even at this distance
could almost feel the fever in his blood and
hear his heart-beats of joy. Most of EN-,
| through some sardonic Intervention Of the
Lady Fortune, contrfve to win at the be-
| ginning-to win enough to carry them into
| the swirl I am speaking now Of the COM
munities where racing is carried on extern
sively through many months In the year
places like New York and Chicago and San
| Francisco and New Orleans. where most
| Of the fellows that we know as regular
racing followers are produced. The course
| Of these chaps Is virtually the same In al
most every case.
"They start in as holiday visitors at the
tracks-clerks or young fellows in small
way of business, who. having heard good
deal Of the racing business in their cities.
| make up their minds that they won't really
be in the picture unless they take trip or
SO out to the race courses and learn how to
talk bit glibly about the horses and their
performances So, on day when big
event or SO is carded, such young fellow
goes out to the track, without knowing the
difference between race horse and
pound of starch, we put 1t sometimes
and, through his very ignorance, in perhaps
four cases out of five he wins on his first
day. The fifth chap, who loses goes the
next day or later on, to get his money
back! But we'll consider the youngster
who makes the little winning on his first
try. The SIS or $40 or s3O-whatever the
amount may be-that he wins by the sim
pie process of pronouncing a horses name
to a bookmaker looks SO velvety, so easy
to him. 1t looks so big. He hasn't had to
work for It! He mentally compares it with
the 81 or 81 or So that he makes by doing
days more or less hard work-and right
then is formed in his mind the nucleus of
that thought which tells him that, after
ALL when money, and ample money may be
| made so easily, work is foolish sort of
thing.
He waits impatiently for his next day
off or chance to go to the races, and on
this occasion he may win, or break even,
or perhaps lose back his first winnings and
more. But he has learned something about
the prices laid against the horses, he has
picked UP primary fact or two about the
horses themselves and their ability and
form-and then the possibilities Of the game
loom bigger and bigger in front of him.
"All one has to do is to pick the winner!
That ought not to be so hard, when a fell
low has grasped the game-why, certainly
not! One horse in the race is bound to be
better than all the rest of the Others isn't
he? Take race in which there only
four starters, for instance-well, there's al
ways one of them that stands out in a
class by himself among the bunch, isn't
there land you can often get even money
or better against that horse! Even if he
has lost bit today, why there's tomorrow
IF he could only get away from that con-
founded office or store tomorrow, but he
can't blame the lucki But maybe he won't
come out on Saturday, when he's got
half hoiday-and on Saturday hasn't he got
swell chance to get So or $40 on some 80
or 40 to l shot that he has in mind, and no.
body else will remember anything about?
I'm only sketching the way the dream
goeS-the way the horse microbe begins to
work. The rest of the process is more east
Iy traced. The game can't be beat-of
course. you know that. I've been fooling
with it for a generation, on all sides, and
you may safely take my word for 1t that
the game cannot. under any circumstances
whatsoever, be beat. But the youngsters
fight it. For a while a section of them
make good winnings-and what portion of
the winnings does not lead them into riot
Gus living soon goes in plunging bets. They
pick up the patter of the track and they
also pick up an unfitness for their Jobs that
is simply astonishing in Its completeness
and rapidity. They begin to regard their
positions. that keep them from attending
the races every day, sulkily, and they
| billets, and, fully infiamed by then with
the notion that 1t Is their destiny to become
successful American turf piungers, they do
any old thing to get money to continue
of level-headed ones find out, after sea-
son Of misery and worriment, that the
game Is not meant for them and swear Off
resolutely. This proportion Is again divided
into those who stick to their resolution and
those who weakly abandon 1t when the
temptation to see the horses once again
hits them strong. The game is admittedly
fascinating can say so, even now, after
the more than thirty years of buffetings
that 1t has given me. It's about as hard
to combat, once 1t gets well into your blood,
as drinking rum.
well, from out of this mass of youths
whom I've tried to describe In their initial
stages Of horse-playing come the regulars.
They are totally untitled for legitimate
work, and they appreciate 1t. If they're
clever and alert, they struggle along One
of them will get a job as a bookmaker's
sheet-writer or outside man, another will
contrive to pick up horse or so and grad
ualIy get together string. another will
manage to keep on even terms with the
books, or, If he doesn't manage that, to
form an acquaintanceship that will enable
him to borrow enough in times of trouble to
permit of his stringing along, and so on.
One out of ten thousand of them will, by
an extraordinary combination of circum-
stances, rise for little while into the pro-
portions of a successful plunger-a young
chap who Is written about by the turf writ
ers for series of big winnings one day,
and who Is forgotten the next-these plum
gers that flare like torches for a little while
are really the sorriest figures in the game
when their fall comes. How many hum
dreds, how many thousands, might almost