The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-20
RACETRACK PLUNGERS LOSE.
MANY FIND THE HORSES HARD
TO BEAT THIS YEAR.

TO BEAT THIS YEAR.
Ptttsburg Phil and Joe Yeager, How.
ever, Have Made Fortunes on the
Eastern Turf-Drake. Gates, walbaum.
johnson and Others Up Against 1t.
Few Of the men who plunge at the race
tracks have been successful this year.
Tho shrewd members Of the Metropolitan
Turf Association have got the money al
most to q man. There are several cases OF
absolute bankruptcy ON tho part OF men
who have been wont to wager Thousands
on . single race, while there are many proni-
nent turfmen who cannot spend the money
around town that made them good fellows
In the Old days. :.
If tho big bugs cannot beat the game,
said bookmaker's clerk to THE Sun man
ono day last week, what chance do tho
piksrs hAve7'
Yet there are Thousands Of persons whe
never miss day at the races and who are
betting on something every time the busle
sends the horses to the post. At Saratoga
a relative Of Julius Fleischmann. Mayor OF
Cincinnati, - last resort wagered ~ 600
on q certain horse and lost. He could not
make good the markers which the various
layers had against him, and 20 he delib-
erately fed. 1t was said that he had gone
to South Africa to seek now fortune with
which to make good his obligations. but
at last accounts he had not sailed, but was
moving up and down Broadway with the
old cot In the glare Of the familiar lights.
A. Featherstone, who made fortune
out Of bicycles and then got together .
racing stable, the best Of which was the
famous Mesmerist, Is another unfortunate.
Mr.. Featherstcne last year began by win
ming tho Metropolitan Handicap with
Arsenal, 90 to 1, and then taking the Brook
lyn Handicap with Reina, 40 to I. It was
believed then that tho Chicago turfman's
luck had turned, but such was not the case,
for ct the end Of the season he was heavy
loser.
Il cannot bet the same amounts ~ In
tho old days. said Mr. Featherstone one
day last spring to friend in the clubhouse
at Morris Park, but I still keep in. 1t is
30 fascinating
TWAS week ago that Mr.. Featherstone's
luck turned. His four-year-old colt Igniter
and the former bicycle manufacturer won
10000 In wagers. This success made him
take firmer grip on the old game. and
only three days ago he was in the ring at
Gravesend betting heavily on his three
year-old Pepper, who lost.
Nobody knows how much John A. Drake
and his rotund friend John W. Gates have
lost this year. Last season Mr.. Drake
sent Q fairly strong stable East, including
the Futurity winner. Savable. Mr.. Drake
caught him at 40 to 1. and the Chicago con-
isderacy won close to 500 600 on the victory
Of the Salvador colt in the big race at Sleeps
head Bay. Under the decidedly skilful
handling Of his very expert trainer, Enoch
Wishard, Mr.. brakes horses proceeded
TO enjoy phenomenal SUCCESS. Most OF
them were just q shade better than selling
platers, 60 they had a mortgage on
such racea. and Mr.. Drake was enabled to
burn up the ring on several occasions.
II was nothing for him to bet S25 900 on one
Of his horses In selling race and then
stand q boost Of s., 600 from Albert Simons,
his bitterest enemy on the turf. or some
body else. Mr.. Gates followed Mr.. brakes
lead with supreme confidence, and both
,luit the racing game here last fall cutting
UP $500 900 between them.
But all this has changed this year. Mr.
brakes horses have been VIGOROUSLY I'm
successful. He has wagered amounts that
would have ransomed king only to see
his turquoise blue colors finishing behind
those Of somebody else. Up to within a
week Of the close Of the Saratoga meeting
Mr. Drake and Mr.. Gates had been hard
hit. But they pulled out some in the last
few days and came to Sheepshead Ray
confident & at the gold would come their
way In the usual food In this they were
mistaken. They backed all Of brakes
horses and were constantly sending checks
70 the bookmakers, They backed McChes-
ney heavily to win the Twin City Handi-
cap at shsepshead Bay and also played
Jccund on Monday. These two horses
enabled them to recover some OF their losses,
and when Wild Pirate won the last race
at Gravesend on Tuesday Drake, Gates
Co. were said to have cleaned up between
$500 and $4,000 on the result. Still
Drake Ia behind on the season. some OF his
friends declaring that 1t will take nearly
100000 to make up the deficiency in his
bank account And Gates ia not far behind
E. E. Sniathers Ia winner and heavy
one. He has been backing McChesney
in all Of his races in the West, and wher
Big Mac" won the Twin City 1t Ia said that
Mr.. Smathers bet $aO,0O0 at to /. His
Western commissioners have also cleanec
UP on Grand Opera, the Wagner colt sole
10 Mr.. Smathers by "Pttsburg Phil.
And that brings to mind the indisputabl'
fact that -Pittsburg Phil, otherwise know
as George E. Smith, is the biggest winner
on the Eastern turf. Those who dare t.
guess ray the shrewd. careful, calculating
pl1nger has taken at least S250,000 from
the bookmakers already this year. will
the end OF the campaign two months away
It was early in the season that the locke.
Club notified Smith that he would hav
to sell all of his horses. Meanwhile Smith
regular jockey, Willie Shaw, had bee
indefinitely suspended and for time thing
looked squal!y. But -Pittsburg." alway
non communicative, went ahead with hi
g.