Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-15
LONG SHOTS At
BEHN|NG TRACK
Some of the Winning Bets That
Have Been Made by Wash
ington People.


Bette Iandon, with the century price
against her. snealled up behind the odds-on
favorite, that good colt Al Powell-ridden
10y a dreaming boy-and purloued the race
ON the wire by a nod.
The raibird probably meant that the So
called wise OF educated money doesn't go
down on those long-priced tricks. 1t is
entirely true that, as a general rule, only
the novices at the pOny-playing game take
chance with those write-your-0wn ticket
propositions. The man who has been toy
ing with the heart breaking old game for
a long time gradually develops atrophy of
the nerve. lie can't see anything In
race that the dope sheets fail to fore
shadow. The inveterate race player finds
II eXcrUciatingly difficult TO take a chance
even on a second choice. No matter how
many long shots get over" in the progress
of a meeting, he is bound to call the
winning long priced things mere 1lukes AL
most every race-player starts out his turf
gambling career by taking frequent cracks
at the long shots. lie hasn't learned to
dope them out himself according to handi-
Gaping system OF his own deViSnS, and
he shoots at the moon-occasionally
hitting it, by the way. Also by the way,
the man just beginning his horse betting
career who early in his experience man
ages to put one OF those long priced things
over is just about hopelessly lost The
game looks too good to be true 10 him.
fail to efface the gleeful Impression of that
first long-shot win.
The second stage of the race-player is
that in which he begins to pick short
priced horses-second and third and fourth
choices-to beat the faVorite. This scheme
wears out on him In time, too, and so.
after the race playing habit has become
eterraily fixed upon him. he finally reaches
the inevitable stage of most of the "regU-
lars and falls for one favorite after
the other His nerve becomes dried up
and his backbone ossiHes under long sieSes
OF pounding, and he struggles pantingly
ing the lons-priCed propositions a plains
cayuse lodges prairie dos holes.
Backed Bette Laudon.
All of this isn't saying however that
when the long shots win nobody profits.
Rarely or never does a whole ringful OF
bookmakers have absolutely clean" sheets
when one OF these watermelonish long ones
gets by Several of the Benuing bookmakers
had to pay out on that same Bette Lanion
IHu-to-l thing good deal more money
than they took in on the event. I
know four Washingtonians-t of whom
had never visited a race track before in
their uves-who had their lonesome little
81 bills on Bette, straight. at 100 10 l. and
IA peculiarly hardy individual from Lees
burg. Va, named Grub basted Bookmaker
Knight for 81 go on that wiu-vhich really
was u Huke-by getting a $40 note on it
at the top odds.
Even when horses win at much greater
odds than leo to | there are always Il few
grtnning chaps around the ring wEo've
nailed 1t once saw horse win at
hpp to /, and careful count of the ring
showed thar no less than tNeutv-SPyen So
called "pikers" had caught the amazing
good thing for bets ranging from 81 to $40
The 5OO-to-l winner was the old mudder
Shleidbearer, which later on in his career
passed into the possession OF a Washing
ION man. SnfpldBeaTpTS win a hP frp
mendous odds occurred at the old Fair
Grounds track in st. Louis nine wears ago
Shleldbearer was horse afflicted with the
chronic slows when asked to race on a
fast track, but he could do a lot of things
10 his own kind ON sloppy track On
thls day the track was lightning fast up to
the time the field went to the post But q
lot or crafty 'pikers' noticed that a heavy
rdinstorm was gathering in the sky back
OF the stand, and they took a chance at
Shielbearer at 500 TO l on the wistful
hope that the storm would break before
the race and make the track sloppy Their
dope worked out just right. 1t wasn't a
transform that broke Just in the nick of
uhe' as the Held paraded to the post. 1t
was cloudburst. The heavens Just opened
Ike trap in the bottom of a swimming
poor. Inc track was knee deep in STOP in
siae or half MINUTE. And old Shieldbearer
came home all by himself The mixer who
bet the noted boOkmaker, Barney Schrieber
SO straight on Shieldbearer at 500 TO
planted Canker of lifelong sorrow IN
hafney sensitive midrff. Barney Is a
very rich man. but lie lsments over that
awful experience yet
AT Sfeepshead Pay, five or six years ago.
Sa" d morse get the money in a maiden
ACC itat had been played down from 500 TO
90 10 20 1 at pO2i-tme and IL was all done
~ the money Of the piking 81 80 and 81
htitors, too. The horses name was Canaan
t'eSton. western animal With their Gus
tn'ary scorn OF western horses. the New
York bookies had laid the centerrlptlious ZOO
to-l price against Captain CASTOR in costly
disregard Of the fact that Captain CASTOR
on his last out IN the west had run a b4nu
uH second to so good a Splinter In mis- dav
as Frank Bell The boOkmgiecrs Installed a
hluitiug plug named Knight Templar the
IaN"IIte IN TINS race at the silly figure of
10 .. The big hcitOrs PLAYING strictly New
York form took that one but the pikers
especially the tauurters Of The plst ner-
Torrance sheets in the cheap field ate up
tue 900 TO on tap against Captain CASTOR
Ite infection spread All over the big ring
so That at post-time Captain CASTOR was
ci&ihed az 10 20 l.. and few OF the LAYERS
wanted to take any money even at those
ODDS captain CASTOR won only by about
ok lengths that's all The people behind
the morse cleaned up $4,000 on the trick
IN the pool rooms throughout the country
There was a lot of talk among the voclfer-
ouslN kicking ho1kmakers after the race TO
the effect that Captain CASTOR was q ringer
but that yelp didn't go Captain Castor
wsSnt any ringer. and he was promptly
Identified by scores Of western horsemeu.
The horse raced successfully after that at
the New Orleans and other tracks
But there isn't any necessity to get a way
from Washington TO recall all kinds OF long
shots that have won and thereby enabled
the c1suals and so-cailed pikers TO clean up
tidily.
Fell Dead With a Winning Ticket.
About eight years ago colt beautifully
nau~ Passe Partout (out OF the dam
Everywhere. belonging TO the Morrises. got
the coin at Benuing with as good as 100 to
1 scrawied against hts chance. ana slews
and slathers and 0ddics OF Washington
casuals. new 10 the game had their little
81 bills down on the thing. chiefly because
they liked the colts pat name. The colt S
win, however, was the occasion Ola shadow
falling on the betting ring thar was not
ltted for the remainder OF the afternoon
n man dropped dead Ia the ring in his ex-
element over winning on the good thing
lie was a middle-aged and prosperous look
Ing man from a western city. and he had
gone 10" Passe Partout with a so note
on pure bunch. He was standing In line
waiting for his chance TO collect when he
fell backward. as dead as a door-nail from
heart disease The bookmaker who had
been caught for the S2.Ost-I believe it was
George Rose-established the dead mans
identity and forwarded the s. eeo 10 his
people in the west.
Foor little old Boney Boy, the over-raeed
L NH -. -