The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

fill it acceptably. They could start horses.
could take a turn in the stand as judge.
could time. them, could act as patrol or
paddock jud &c, could make book, write
sheet, pay Oh. or act as runner or r, OUTSIDE
ness. Il ia not holiday making with them:
but as much a business from their point OF
view az the buying and selling Of eggs and
butter.
They know every horse in training. They
know all about breeding and breeding
lines. They know how far and fast any
horse can go. what Jockey he likes, what
track conditions best suit him, whether
he likes to run in front or come from be-
hind. whether he can do anything in the
mud. whether he resents interference.
whether he snlks. whether he is a steady
one or an inland outer. whether he is i'm
proving or going back. and so on. they
nov all the jockeys and the circumstances
in which the jockeys live-if the boys are
sober and level headed or drunken and
venal. II they are In shape TO ride or out OF
condition, II they are favoring any special
interest or out for riding records.
They know what goes on at all times
in the paddock. No horse can get TO the
post in bar plates without their knowing
II. and the horse that wore bllnkers the last
time out and that goes with free vision
this time Ia tabled by them. they find
out what turfmen are under suspicion. and
they know how to sift the grounds for this
suspicion. They know when a horse is
meant or when a horse is ont for work.
AN OF this information and more reaches
the regulars. One or another OF them gets
hold OF the facts, and the facts are the
common property of the bunch. Outsiders
don't get hold Of these inside facts, but
the regulars all know each other perfectly
well, and there Ii the strongest kind OF free
masonry among them.
You can see how inestimably valuable
all this sort OF information that the egu
Iara nat hold nf "a and how nffArIV at SPa
one is bound to be without It. h regulars
who have Ia ken all h degrees and who
know what is behind all the moves wonder
more and more, az they grow older, that
ANYBODY at all is ever ty any chance able
to win a bet unless through pure luck.
md yet the great body Of regulars are
I themselves living denial6 Of the dictum
so fashionable nowadays that the horse
game can't be beat. The regulars beat it,
They don't always win and they don't
always lose. but they stay along with
il. They certainly live a great deal more
comfortably and extensively, AZ a rule,
than most folks, When they're winners
they fly high, without indulging in dissipa-
ton TO any extent, and when they re down
and out they always get a helping hand.
That's the biggest thing in connection
with the racing regulars. They're always
giving each other a lift. The man who
Is up, with the money In his pocket, never
even thinks OF refusing TO take a fellow
regular who has been getting the worst OF
the battle. It's an understood thing:
All of these thousands of regulars around
the New York tracks are friends OF each
other. They W all been bucking the game
alongside each other for years. AZ every
stage Of the journey they're about equally
divided between winners and losers. But
the loser, even II he be all in has no occasion
to repine. He knows a hundred fellows
in funds who will start him oil again. He,
in his prosperous periods, has in turn done
bia aha "a ~ the staIInQ
The accepted regular Who at the windup
at AQueduct was broke, and who wanted
TO make the winter track that suited him
best, had little or no difficulty in getting
himself fixed out for the trip. Maybe
last year he fixed out for the same trip
two or three chaps who are there with the
coin this year, and they're there with the
helpful mitt now that their former stalker
needs the lift. Otherwise they wouldn't
be regulars.
Il know perhaps five hundred regulars
who have never lone anything else for
twenty-five years except follow the horses.
They've a a mighty comfortable time,
and they're still sleek and In the game.
5SSG to tne the T TssTiSrs KslSyesn ' one S os tSem
goes down and out, for example, one Of the
bookiesu a him on with his crew rs
sheet writer or cashier or outside man
until he gets a-eoing again. It's q sort OF
mutual benefit association, the ring crowd
at a racetrack.
Even the racing associations have to
give ear to the demands Of the body ~
regulars. when, a. happens once in a great
while, the regulars take a stand for some
thing or other they want and are entitled
to. The rncing associations we'll know
that the regulars are the mainstay and
backbone Of their cato receipts, and that
without the 5000 or 1000 regulars who
arc on hand at the Now YOrg tracks from
the beginning 10 the end NJ the season, rain
" shine. hot or cold, rncehor,es couldn't
be run around New ork Rt all. without
the regulars tho gate rec cipts would not
permit 81 the gaire gcipg on"