Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-29
BETTING IN
THE FUTURE BOOKS
Few Able to Pick the Winners
Some Remarkable In
stances of Good Luck.

This Is the DIG season IpT lut man OiNO'
betting business. The makers of the fu-
ture books on great American turf events
begin to reap their harvest with the popping
OF the crocuses and hyacinths The folks
who bet by mail by this time have, or
think they have pretty fair idea of the
fields that will go to the post for the big
turf fixtures. and they set fOxily to work
TO beat the price" remembering. as some
of them do occasions when horses that
figured at immense prices in the future
books went to the post In their races at
2 or 3 to l. and won at that. Everybody
who sends in his coin on his pick TO the
maker OF a future book has this thing OF
beating the post price big in his mind. He
recalls. for instance. that Capt Sam
Browns horse tournament once nailed one
OF the greatest Of American race fixtures,
and al the favorite's price. too. when his
price in the future books had been as
high as so to l. And the willing to-Le
crafty ones have other reColleCticns OF a
similar sort. The dead-cinch type of play
ers look long and lovingly at that price
6 to l. which is the present quotation
against the horse of the century Keene's
sysonby. to win the Brooklyn handicap or
the Suburban handicap, and slews and
slathers OF them are sending in their $40
and 500 and even $1,000 bills on that horse
10 connect with one or other of those great
events. They figure Mr.. OLeary OF Chi
cage the main future boOkmaker, to he
smoking all kinds OF seconds in laying such
an "idiotic" price on a horse like Sysonby.
that is Just bound to win everything he
tries for this year. But Mr.. O'Leary of
Chicago doesn't smoke at all, 1t should be
stated. and close observers of Mr.. OLeary
for many years have noticed that he quite
generally knows what he is doing. and that
when the red confirming board appears on
any race on which he has made a huge fu-
ture book ne generally has his safely
slowed and tucked away. Mr.. OLeary
has about a hundred horses running for
him IN these big events 1t should be
membered, and only three of EN- get any
thing in the actual race. running one. two,
three Only an extremely small proportion
OF the horses upon which the future book
maker Is now taking In coolies of money
ever go to the post for the big events a
all. so that. of course, all or the coin
raked down on these Is pure. undiluted
velvet.
Sysonby Not a Sure Thing
SysCnby at to 1 n the Suburban may
have pretty soft look to The nat
urally confident individual. but the cautious
player OF the ponies will not bubble and
enervesce to any great extent over the
quoted figure. The cautious individual who
is tempted to send in some Sysonby coin
stops ana reflects that there are whole
lot of reasons why Sysouby may not Just
walk home in the big events for which he
Is entered this year. While the Keene
crack is known 20 be a sound horse il is
always possible that he might break down
before starting this year at all. He might
step In "a hole and wrench himself or bow
a tendon in a workout. or develop an
ossoiet. or catch a cough a fever. or do
any one OF hundred things capable of
keeping him from the post He may prove
backward in his work in spite of his repu-
tation as an. early horse" so that while
he may go IN the later Suburban il won't
be posi- bic TO get him 10 the barrier for the
In ,g-hr
the gold sent in on him to cop the Brook
Ign is thrown away-handed to Mr.
OLeary, that is 10 say. And when Ii
comes to that II isn't impossible bv any
means that even II Sysonby stands up to
bis work and goes TO the post in ali OF
the events In which a future price is chalk
ed against him, he just might not make
good. he might not race up to his three
year-old form and 1t Is one OF the chances
or the game that he might prove to be
merely an ordinary four-year-old More re-
markaple things than that have happened
on the turf Horses Of class are frequently
utterly losing the form shown in their pre-
Nious year. and the no-account OF last year
Is improving in a surprising manner this
the heaviest ina future book to win great
turf fixture very rarely comes home with
the coin.
Touting the Dead Ones.
The wary bettors on turf futures Will be
keeping a sharp eye out Just now for dead
ones that are being touted TO win the big
events. By dead ones is not meant those
OF the horses that stand little or no chance
OF winning. but horses that actually stand
not chance In life 10 ever get to the post
at dli The makers OF future books have a
great little scheme OF putting out pure done
stories at this season every year about tba
WORKOUT OF this or that horse. in which the
morse is stated to have biistered the tract;
ana ths prediction is made In these hop
yarns that the horse that beats this one
WI! nail the Brooklyn or the Suburban o~
Whatever the future event may be- Such a
bunch OF humbug was given tremendously
Wide circulation a few years ago with reFer-
cnce 10 the horse Cold Heels a horse that
AFTER putting a Suburban TO his credit
broke down hopelessly and deRenerated int
IL common selling platter. Just about this
season the story appeared all over the west
mat the 'rejuvenated" Gold Heels was
WorSing great guns. and that he was being
especially pointed for the Brooklyn and the
suburban. These stories attracted goat ar
tenton and Interest among folks esnacfaIiy
IN the middle west. who bet on future turf
events. and these folks sent In a verftabIe
shower or gold upon Gold Heels to win one
or the other OF the great fixtures They had
no means OF knowing that the Gold Heels
yarns were cleyerly cooked I'D bv tho future
bookna kers themselves for the sake az
raklng In the cascade Of money on a dead
one. At the very time the fairy tales about
.'oiu heeis workouts were appearing that
morse was wholly out Of training and suffer
Ing with four as bad legs as were eyer at
tached to a race horse There wasn't tho
slightest Intention OF training him for any
more racing OF any kind whatever. and the
stories about his works were pure fabrica-
tons successfully designed TO incite the I'M
wary into sending IN soft money on the
chahee or a horse that nobody on the Inside
even dreamed would ever face the barrier
again.
And there Is lot Of this dead wood and
useless and nOt-meant lumber cumbering up
the nelds for the big fixtures that are slated
10 go this year. An experienced horseqnan
can run his eye UP and down the list of
horses carded for the Brooklyn and Subur-
ban and put his finger upon literally dozens
OF the horses that haven't got a chance In
The world OF ever starting. But the money
Is flowing Into the future boOkmakers' cot
fers on these dead ones. all the same.
The future book always comes out at the
big end OF the horn. as matter OF course
but u - pleasant to be able to record few
Isolated Instances in which lucky folks have
done pretty well out OF this mail order way
OF betting.
Craze in the Middle West.
The future book habit hasn't become a
fixed thing among all classes IN the east as