Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-04
WOMEN AT THE RACES

good deal of fun with their stories of the
quaint and funny questions put to their
male escorts by women attending their
first base ball game. But a woman attend
ing her first game Of ball is comparatively
an encyclopaedia of knowledge of the game
to the woman paying her initial visit to a
race track. The intricacies of the betting
system confuse her beyond all words
which Is not wonderful, considering that
a great many jaunty men not familiar with
the racing game find 1t difficult to unravel
the tangled skeins of the present method
OF gambling on the horses. The zone, two,
three scheme of betting on the thorough
breds seems to be particularly puzzling to
the women attending the races for the
first time. A nice-looking girl with an i'm
mense belt bouquet of violets put a dollar.
at 20 to l. on horse ito show''-that is,
to run third-at Benning one day last week.
The horse won the race at average odds
Of 100 to /. accomplishing big killing
"Oh, goody, goody!" excitedly exclaimed
the young woman with the violets, delight
eddy clapping her hands when the 100 to
l shot that she had played for the third
position crossed the line in the van. Just
to Think win hundred dollars the very
first timei"
But no, said her escort good-naturedly.
the horse third, you know.
The young womans face fell. and she
gazed reprovingly at her escort. as If he
In some way or other were party to a con-
spiracy to cheat her out of $50
But the horse won. didn't he, and didn't
1 play him with a dollar, and wasn't he
what you call a hundred to one shot?'"
Sure thing, he was a hundred to one
Shot, replied her escort. but you didn't
play him to win-only third. You get your
money the way you play them, you see"
wei. l don't care one bit, so there"
said the young woman. aggrievedly. THE
horse won, and after I played him ought
to get my hundred dollars. SO I had. and
TIN be real mean il the man doesn't give
1t to me. SO 1t will!'
The young man tried as best he could to
soothe her. but It wasn't much use. She
let out on him rather severely for not
making her. play the winner SO that she
toward him for the remainder Of the after
noon was distinctly tart.
Other women, on the contrary, possess
fixed idea that unless the horse they bet pet
on finishes in exactly the position In which
they play him their money Is lost.
Dear me-" almost tearfully remarked
young woman the other afternoon, just
after 10 to 1 shot had reached the wire
first, 1.-The mean old thing wins the race,
and I played him to run second at to l,
and lose my money!!
It took her escort some time to explain to
her that she was a winner on the horse.
because the animal ran in advance of the
position for which she played him. She
didn't, however. entirely believe IN MS
statement until the commissioner actually
paid her her winnings, for she said she
didn't understand how she could be win
ner when the horse didn't finish In the
position for which she played him.
Other women make the curious mistake, on
their initial track visit. Of imagining that the
number on the horses saddle cloth as he
passes the wire indicates the position In
which the horse finishes.
1,4k &No Yirncr Oh
remarked a woman who had played horse
to finish third at a long figure, after the
animal had actually finished in that posi-
ton. MY horse couldn't run any better
"Why, no." her escort explained to her.
''He finished third all right. and you get
your money"
FINISHED third?" said the woman argu
tentatively Didn't I see the number q
on the white piece of cloth underneath the
saddle when the horse went by?'
Singularly enough. many women. new az
the business of betting on the horses, seem
to regard it as something extraordinary
that they get the amount of their bet back
well as their winnings when their selec-
tons are successful. An exceedingly honest
looking little matron, for example, placed
$40 on horse at the Benning track few
afternoons ago that was chalked up as La
vorite at the price Of to z. The horse
won his race in canter and rev mo-
ments later the grand stand commissioner,
with whom the little woman had made the
wager, appeared and counted SO into her
outstretched hand.
"Oh." she said to the commissioner then,
after counting the money, "but you have
given me too much-seventy dollars. Ihat
is twenty dollars too much-I bet you
twenty against fifty, didn't I?'
'Yes'm," said the commissioner land
give you the fifty you win and the twenty
you bet with-seventy."
"Oh," said the little matron, with wide
open, puzzled eyes, and for some time she
sat quite still, with an expression Of calcu-
lating wonder on her face. plainly imagin-
ing that the commissioner had cheated him
self out Of $40.
The suppressed ferocity of the male bettor
when his horse gets left at the post isn't
marker to the expressed fury Of the wo-
man, new to the game and to such m1sfor-
tunes, when she becomes the victim of a
similar disaster. Half the women In the
stand "plunged''-that Is to say, they bet as
high as s. for the most parton a horse
that was left standing fat-footed at the
Benning barrier last week.
''Too bad-your horse is left" the wo-
mems escorts said to them when the web
bling flashed up and the horse stood stock
still. turned the wrong way Of the track.
Left" the women who had played the
hoodoo horse. amazedly. well. he can't
win, then, can he?'
"Well, not by much more than a furlong,'
replied the escorts, rakishly.
''Of course, then. we get our bets back"
said the women, confidently.
mot unless you use piece of gas pipe on
the man you bet with" facetiously replied
the escorts.
But If the horse didn't run at all-there
he Is, standing still over there yet-why, he
wasn't in the race, was he, and how can
they keep our money!
When the situation was explained to them
they broke into fierce expressions about the
Outrage" and were not happy for the re-
mainder Of the afternoon.
A steeplechase jockey was caught nap
ping on q favOrite that was far in the lead
entering the stretch, and was beaten out
to the wire by a long shot on which the
jockey never stopped working. The dis
gusted men in the stand who had played
the losing favorite were furious In their out
cries against the Jockey who had gone to
sleep" in the stretch. and they told each