The Savannah morning news., 1903-09-09
FREAK TIPS ON HORSE RACES
THAT BROUGHT BIG WINNINGS.

There's scarcely one man in ten
thousandawho bets on horse races who
hasn't a'story of how he won a lot of
money "once upon a time" on a queer
tip. Racegoers are a curious lot. Judg-
ment, good information, form and
everything else will be thrown aside
at times in favor of what Vulgarly
is called a bunch" The highest and
the lowest are subject to the mysterious
influence of the "hunch." 1t affects
W. c. Whitney as strongly as it does
the negro stable boy.
Probably one of the strangest tips on
! record was that a prominent actor got
when he was playing in Chicago. 1t
was in the days of the Roby track.
He had an engagement to take one of
the women of the company to the
races. Of course, she was late. WOm-
en- always are They missed the last
race train and were about to leave
the station when the actress suggested
that he inquire if there wasn't some
other train by which they could reach
the race track.
We'll" says an attendant. There's
a funeral train going to the cemetery
near the Roby track. 1 don't think
the mOurners would take you sports
along if they knew it, but maybe you
could ride in the baggage car with the
coffin if the lady doesn't Rject."
The actress had the raci fever bad
enough to do anything, md the two
players made the journey to the track
seated on the coffin. They arrived in
time for the third race Bad luck at
! tended them. They lost on that race
and they lost on the fourth. Then the
horses they bet on in the fifth fell.
/ When they reached the track the actor
! had 500 and the woman $45. OF
| this only $40 remained. They were
desperate. In looking over the entries
| for the last race the woman saw the
name Hearse. They had never heard
| of the horse before.
There's our favorite tip" the woman
cried to the actor. Let's play him
| for all we've got"
They did. Hearse was at 20 to l and
won 1t was one of the few times the
skate ever did win.
A prominent Englishman tells of
some strange tips that have come un-
! der his personal observation. A lighted
match carelessly thrown into bush
Of furze on EPSON Downs some years
ago, he says, put 1000 into the pock-
| cts of three men. The match set the
furze on fire, causing, as one OF the
three sportsmen remarked, "a regular
blaze" Hardly were the words out of
his mouth than it struck him as coin
cidental that ST. Blaise was the name
! of one of the candidates for the blue
ribbon He suggested putting some
money on the horse, and his two friends
Jumped at the idea. The fact that St.
! Blaise was a rank outsider and stood
at 80 to l against did not deter them,
which was lucky, for st. Blaise got
home first, thus winning for one of
the plungers $1,000 and $500 for his
! two friends.
Memory gave William Redmond, NJ.
p, a splendid tip one day yearsor two
ago, and the fact served to console him
for the unpleasant incident which had
bestirred his memory. He was just
leaving the House of Commons after
being suspended" when it occurred to
him that the last time he had been
suspended" he had ODonovan Rosa
for a companion. 1t also occurred to
him that next day at Goodwood a
horse named O'Donovan Rosa was to
race for the Stewards Cup. Taking
into consideration that the horse was
| a 60-to-1 chance, he cautiously laid a
| single sovereign on O'Donovan Rosa.
\ He probably was as much surprised as
pleased when he heard the next day
that his memory had given him 1.-The
straight tip"
A Mr.. Forth. who died recently, leav-
ing a handsome fortune of more than
$50, 600 turned the corner in his ca
reer by acting upon an idea suggested
to his mind by singular coincidence.
| At that time he was the manager of
a small Lambeth public house, and, de-
spite the environment, he had never
| been led into betting. One day, how
ever while serving IN his bar, he
| heard his customers discussing the
Forthcoming Derby and was gradually
drawn into the conversation, during
which he learned that one of the
horses entered for the race bore the
same name as himSelf-Frederick his
| Christian name. This interested him
so much that he watched the papers
to see how his namesake rose and fell
in the betting. But ne never for a
/ moment dreamed of backing it until
the day before the race was to be
run, when he learned that the horse
was to be ridden by a veteran jockey
| whose surname was the same as his
own-Forth. He at once declared his
intention of laying $40 on the animal.
! In vain his friends argued that Fred
erick stood at 80 to /: that Forth was
| G. years old, and that there could not
~ 9" NAi''i4NS Va thS iOiSO NllliiuSs ne
stouty replied that for horse to bear
| his Christian name and be ridden by
! Jockey having his surname was too
much for him. Back il he did. not
with e10. but with $50. and he cleared
$500 over it, from which he built a
| substantial fortune.
The fact that on the day the EN-
/ press Of Germany died a. filly, the
Empress Frederick, was running at
/ birmingham was surely a singular
| coincidence, but hundreds of ssupersti-
tlous folk deemed the Empress death
/ an IN omen and refrained from back
/ Ing the filly. which, however, won
/ easily.