Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-14
HOW. SOME PEOPLE BET

Bennfng track the other day. II used to
do that-but the years were lean ones when
did. I am satisfied with what purses
can induce my horses to win these days.
Once In great while get bet down on
one of my own horses if feel pretty GER
| tain that he is cherry ripe and morally sure
to without not otherwise. It's just as much
fun for me to sit in the stand and watch
the conduct of the people who do bet
more fun, for that matter; for know that
1 can't beat the game, and, knowing that.
l manage to extract a certain sort Of in
terest. not wholly sardonic, in studying
people who haven't yet found out that
there isn't any possible way of beating the
bookmakers
TT is interesting, for example, to watch
that large class of racegoers who, al
though they have good seats on the grand
stand with first-rate view of the track,
interested at all. They're too nervous
They turn their heads away from the
scene as soon as the bell rings on the
judges stand that announces that the
| horses are off. They take 1t to heart so
much, as I say, that they are simply afraid
to watch the races. They'll annoy the man
near them who has the field glasses by ask
Ing him dozen times during the progress
OF the race where .Ieir' horse is, al
though they know the Jockeys colors per-
fectly well and could keep an eye on their
horses position from start to finish-Only
they haven't got the nerve. Women race
goers are the leaders at this sort of thing.
There are old-time women betters who
have been going to the races for years, and
who know all of the Jockeys colors, as well
as the man in charge of the repairing of
them, but who absolutely can't bring them
selves to focus their vision on a race in
which they are financially interested, out
of fear that they'll see their pick plough
ing along In the ruck or pocketed in the
ENyrnn yIyhn fhoy hoo -
the folks around them shouting that their
horse Is well in the lead they find 1t out of
the question to turn their gaze in the direc-
ton of the race. Only when their horse
mas crossed the line, victorious, do they
heave nervous sigh, and say something
hoarse about having 'knowed that that 'un
I'D win all the time, but If their horse
loses they even decline to look at the finish
right in front of them. but bend their gaze
upon the program and begin to dope out
the horses in the next race.
PLENTY of men, chaps who bet good mon
ey on their picks not only refuse to
watch the races in which they have bets
down, but actually remain under the shelter
Of the betting shed while the races are on.
While the runners are at the post these
| nervous individuals remain in the deserted
betting shed, whence even the bookmakers
sheet writers and cashiers have fled to
watch the outcome on the track from their
high stools; and they occupy themselves in
biting their nails or Juggling at their mus
swaying crowd out in front are roaring
themselves hoarse over the shifting posi-
tons of the racers.
"'Who WINS? they inquire weakly, and
with an effort because their threats are
dry and their tongues parched, Of the
scurrying sheet writer's and cashiers, the
first of the crowd to hustle back to the
betting ring after the race, and when they
are told they look pleased or solemn, &C
COZ ding to the way the information suits
them or fits their book.
"Some Of these nervous ones linger at the
bar while the races are being rum not
especially because they want to drink but
so as to give themselves a sort of excuse
for not watching the running of the races.
The horses were speeding into the stretch
during the sixth race at the Jamaica track
couple of days ago, when a fat-faced
chap, who appeared to be under heap of
nervous strain. in spite of his obvious eff
forts to keep himself in, stroled up to the
bar, tossed a nickel alongside one of the
beer kegs, and said to the barkeep:
Give Us beer
II happened to be passing along the bar
corridor, and the sight of that man stand
ing there while the horses were running
aroused my curiosity. Just then there was
deafen1ng roar from the stand above,
and the vanguard of the hurrying book
makers rushed into the ring.
"'Who gifts 1t, boz? the fat-faced chap
at the bar called after one of them
THE rushing bookie named the winner.
The fat-jowled chap gasped in a relieved
sort of way, grinned chalkily, and moist
ened his lips.
Say, Bud he remarked to the barkeep,
who was about to draw him the plebeian
glass of beer. 'switch-you can make that
a quart o. wine
1T wasn't hard to figure it out that that
Observation-Disclosures race better had land
ed on the winner.
Another nervous and eccentric crowd of
racegoers are what we call the riders
They don't say an Ineligible word from
the beginning of the race to the end of it,
but they just sit in the grand stand and
ride their picks for all they're worth,
clucking and git-app-ing and launching back
and forth In their seats just if they
were on the back of the horse they want
to see win. When their horse hooks 1t
up for a nice close finish with one of the
contending leaders. they almost nudge
themselves out of their seats, they're so
busy trying to lift their horse home,
jockey wise. and there's not doubt in life
that these people actually imag CINE that
their grand stand seat riding helps their
horse home. They look pretty nearly as
exhausted as the jocks themselves by the
time the horses flash past the stand, and
they never give up riding their picks until
the jump beyond the wire.
Hundreds of the unnerved ones even
the shouting kind involuntarily turn their
heads away from the picture when two of
the leading horses approach the wire neck
stand the heart-break of the track view
when their horse Is in such tight place
and stands such a chance of being licked
by the other one. and they only refix their
gaze upon the track when the number men
are hosting up the numbers showing the
horses that have finished in the money
Then there's the crowd of quiet and
dmid race players, always men, who, lack
ing the courage to watch the outcome of
the races themselves, gather around the
bookmakers' stools on the lawn for the
purpose of listening to the bookies' COM
ments. while the races are in progress. The
layers stand on their stools with their field
glasses glued to their eyes, and they are
such experienced men at the game that
most of them can tell which horse is going
to win by the time the field reaches the
head of the stretch. There's one book
maker, in particular. whom 1 have never
heard fail to call the winner by the time
the horses got into the stretch, no matter
how far behind the horse named by him
might be at that stage of the journey The
bookie has a genius for telling by the way
the leaders and the horses in the second
division are going which of them has got
the most left for the final dash toward the
wire, and there Is always a mob of the
nerveless ones huddled around the legs of
his stool when the races are being run on
the New York tracks and down here at
Ianning, as well.
These timid ones count on thus knowing
with something almost approaching certain
fy fho of he min Jop,r hofor