Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-26

the bell rings on the judges stand ANNOUNCE
ing that the horses are off. They're the
kind that take 1t to heart so much that
they're just afraid to watch the running of
the races. They'll annoy the man near
them who has the field glasses by asking
him dozen times during the progress of a
race where their horse is, although they
know the colors perfectly well, and could
keep an eye on their horses position from
start to finish, only they haven't the nerve.
Women do this much oftener than men.
Their are old-tfme women bettors who have
been going to the races for years, and who
know all the colors as well as the turf re-
porterS in the press stand who make the
charts, but who absolutely can not bring
themselves to focus their vision on a race
in which they have got bet down, out OF
fear that they'll see their pick ploughing
along in the ruck or pOcketed in the middle
Of the struggling bunch Even when they
hear the folks around them shouting that
their horse is well in the lead, they can't
turn their heads in the direction of the
race Only when their horse has crossed
the line in front do they heave a nervous
sigh and murmur something about having
'knowed that that 'un nd win all the time,
but If their horse is losing they even de-
cline to look at the finish right in front of
them, but bend their gaze upon their pro-
grams and begin to try to dope out the
next race.
& Eccentric RIOTERS.
And then there are plenty of men, too
and chaps who bet good money, not a few
of them-who 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 being run.
While the horses are at the post these
nervous individuals and eccentric rooters
remain in the deserted betting shed, whence
even the sheet writer's and cashiers have
fled to watch the outcome: and they bite
their nails or tug at their mustaches, while
the mob in the stand and the swaying
crowd out in front are bowling themselves
hoarSe over the shifting positions of the
horses.
Hey who wins?' they inquire, weakly
and with an effort 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 gloomy, according to
the way the information suits them and
fits their book.
mot a few of them linger at the bar
while the races are being run. not particu-
larly 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 careertng into the
stretch in the first race last Wednesday
afternoon when fat-faced chap, who ap-
peared to be under a heap of a nervous
strain, in spite of his obvious effort to hold
himself in, strolled up to the bar. under the
grand stand. tossed a nickel alongside one
Of the beer kegs. and said to the barkeep:
Give us a beer, will you?
s.Just then there was final deafening
shout from the stand and from the mob out
in front, and the vanguard of the hurrying
bookmakers' employees scurried into the
ring.
Hey. DO, who gets 1T? the fat-faced
chap called after one of them.
'D'Arkle, in a ghost dance was the re-
ply of the hustling mookmaker's man, as he
bounded toward his stool.
1.-The fat-jowled chap gasped in re-
lieved sort of way, grinned chalkily. and
moistened his lips.
Say. Jack he remarked to. the bar
keep. who was about to draw him crock
of the plebeian maltous suds, switch. "
can make that pint o. wine
anybody could have doped II out that
that neutrality-suspicious. racegoer
had landed on D'Arckle.
"Ride" Their Horses
'Then there is another nervous bunch of
eccentric rooters-the people we call the
riders. They don't say an Ineligible word
from the beginning of race to the end of
it. but they Just sit in the grandstand and
ride their picks for all they're worth, cluck-
ing and git-apping and swaying back and
forth in their seats for all the world as II
they were-on the back of the horse they
want to see win. When. their horse hooks It
up for a close finish with one Of the con-
tending leaders they almost nudge them
selves out of their seats they're so busy
trying to lift their horse home, jockeywise,
and there's not a doubt In life that these
people actually imagine that their grand
stand riding helps their horse hons. They