Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-17

year-old son OF Goldhnch hobbling
about on three legs, the fourth-the
off fore leg-being useless, for the rea-
son that the hoof and hook parts had
decayed to such an extent that the foot
was just dangling Yet the horse had
been entered as a starter. Investiga-
tion showed the suffering thorough
bred to be a badge horse" The owner
of horse registered in the stud book
and quartered on the race track Is
entitled to a badge of admission. AS
is costs SO a day to attend New York
race track, with the probability of
IS a day rate being imposed next year,
the ownership Of race horse, though
he may not be able to outspeed a goat,
is of some considerable moment. A
man named Wilcox owned the Goldfinch
colt. Wilcox was a bartender who
went to the races every day, and he
was keeping the colt alive and I'm
anguish so that he might have the use
of free race track badge of admis-
sion. He had entered the colt so as to
impress the racing secretary with the
Idea of his horse being an active cam
paigner.
The great Hanover succumbed to the
same hoof disease several years ago.
He was shot In his stall, this badge
horse" receiving the same merciful re-
lease shortly after Clarke's discovery.
At every weeding-out sale in the fall
there are always to be had n few 800
equine derelicts, which are eagerly
grabbed up for admission badge pur-
poses, When Boots" Durnell bought
Temaceo from Sam Lazarus week ago
today at Belmont park for $4,000 cash,
Pete OConnell, proprietor of a saloon
just outside the gate, made an offer of
$35 for Cherry Blossom and bought her.
Badge horse! Badge horse!" yelled
the crowd around the sales ring as Pete
led off his investment. Next year
OConnell will go to the races every day
without charge. If the daily rate of
admission is increased from SO to $5, as
reported, then the saloon mans enter
prise will be rewarded 300 per cent.
Nowadays the badge horse" pays.
A funny thing to be observed any day
at the races east, if one cares to look,
is "One Leg" Every bookmaker and
most every bookmaker's clerk knows
this gnarled old man who hobbies on a
wooden stump. He has been around
the betting ring since the first days of
Gloucester and Gutenberg and has
won and lost fortunes in gambling on
the ponies. Some days you will see
him butting up for the best price under
locomotion of crutch. Other times
the wooden leg-it is an exceptiona!
est ebony and set off in silver plating,
one such as any one-legged Beau
Brummel might well wish for-does SER
vice. "Ah, 'Peggie' is broke today"
sallies the bookmaker to his sheet
writer as zone Leg" comes along on
his crutch. Why? you will ask. The
valuable ebonized artificial limb has
been "hocked' in a Bowery pawnshop
for the price of a few piking bets.
how f1,o
comes the leg and away to the shelf
goes the crutch.
Then there are the queer persons
haunting the back line" where are
the cheap bookmakers, who grab a 81
bet with as much avidity as does
"Maxey" Blumenthal in reaching for
$4,000 commission on a dead one"
This wan. long-haired fellow is known
as Weeping WILLIE Whenever he
makes bet he walks up and down
the side lines in the rear muttering
to himself. Long ago the betting
crowds found out what willie" was
up to. He enters into the most fervid
plea to the gods of fortune from the
moment he gets his bet down to the
second the horses flash by the post.
He never goes out to look at the race.
Over in the corner near the tele-
graph OlllSS you may eHCOullIeT dlOlHeT
amusing aspect. There stands "Majah"
Bell, suave colored gentleman of the
turf.
John w. Gates believes more in what
Bell says about horse race than he
does in the opinion of the experts en-
ployed by his friend, John A. Drake
Twice or three times in the afternoon
you can see the multi millionaire over
there barking to the sage advice of
the African philosopher Then one
must think of the old sport and his
reference to the equality of men. "above
and under the turf"
So it is in year. or in a day, on the
New York race tracks, one may see
something more than the ceaseless
gambling If he but keeps his weather
eye on the lookout.