The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-05
YICFTIS or STRMGHq BBfS.
MEN WHO SIMPLY WOMT RAGER
on A PLACE. SAl
naealnR gyBtem That Made johnson Elo.
aBeas When Roseben nan bec0nd 90
GgogineF-HRrd Lack Of the Owner OF
R1kln, Q Famous second Money Runner.

E1kin, Famous Second Money Runner.
-That writing person who's compiling the
lexicon 10 be called GUESSING In All Ages
and Climes' should have had his stenog-
Rapher alongside of Davy johnson for the
eHa minutes or 90 Immediately following
th running Of his Big Train horse Roeeben
In bscond place to Gloriher in the Carter
HahdIcap.' said a clubhouse betting Oom-
e1iasionor. The shorthand man could have
uauKht some ~utteranoes that would make
the language Of Captain Kidd sound like a
report Of q business meeting Of the Daugh-
tiers Of the Revolution, i
johnson wasn't manufacturing that
aurora boreai8 OF cussing because Roaeben
hadn't won. Not at all. He plays TIE
Ramo and takes his bolus when it's coming
70 him without whimpering.
THE thing that pulled the gnorts out Of
him was the fact that he hadn't played HE
cannon ball steed either for the plotz or for
the lisnbsky end OF 1t. He'd got Il all on
straight, at 10 to 1 or thereaboute. standing
to win SIS 900 or 80. and hadn't sent IN the
prioo Of a shave for either OF the other
positions indicated by the board numbers.
There was plenty Of 4 to 1 for the place and
Is good a. ~ to 1 for the third socket right
down to the finish.
sWeIl. johnson belongs 10 that crowd
that plays them 20 win or not at all, and bet
tons who fall for that system are handing
themselves dents from the cradle to the
grave. I could never make out whether
It's q superstition or just a bug, Whatever.
Il Is It isn't good sense.
sThe straight bet players express It this
way: If he can't win he CAM run any
-. w. 49,. - III tfvla ~ ~o,aano
why q goodhorse ought TO be played as far
back 10 there's any sort OF price against
him. =
sDave Gideon picked up the bulk Of his
hig fortune in taking those that he liked
and knew a lot about as far back as he
could get even money. The biggest cleanup
he ever made was when his feet little fnly
Josepha oopped, five or six years ago., with
100 to / about her. His agents we're in
every big room In America on that day
and the take down was something more
than 500 900.
Every little Of the Gideon coin vent on
for the flIy to win. Most OF it wa limb
kale, the price opening at 20 to for Josepha
TO show.
4 sThere are plenty OF right good horses,
excellent in ability but weak In heart and
nerve. that are natural born eeoond and
third money runners. They're the sort
thatu take a good lead and then loaf. and,
while they're loadng, II something pulls
up and ranges alongside of them. they'll
look the threatening one in the eye and say.
as it were, You can have it, and all the
batting and kicking out OF the Jockey avails
nothing; they'll run into the slot they've
picked out for themselves and that's all
there Is to it.
there are some owners ! know who
instruct their jockeys not to fetch their
horses into any OF the positions il they find
that they cant win with them, and there
are plenty Of jo~ckeys-usually the fashion
able Jockeys. at that-who simply will not
kick a horse u to connect with second
third money il they find that they can't
yet the front position. But the man who
is playing the races has to know the kinks
OF such owners and Jockeys.
sWhen Shaw was riding around these
tracks, for example, it was the correct play
to take any horse he rode except
for the winning position. He had a horrible
habit of Just chucking it and sitting still
when he saw that his horse couldn't reach
the front.
sAnother argument for the across the
board way of playing them is that it will
often happen that, when there is ar agree
able mare in a race. the stations will not
try TO beat her. It's q kind OF equine po-
liteness. II the mare is q shifty one she'll
rcgnp out in front Of the stations all the
way. and they won't pass her.
Probably the politest horse. that ever
raced In this country was old tlkins q
shifty horse, something better
than a platter, that dropped out OF the game
A@.eAA - ,2trhN NvnCHu a m after VnEV Innn
turf career. Elkin's ~pohtepees nAade him
as the most celebrated second money
runner In the history Of the game.
~DuTfng his last year on the turf, inolud-
ing a campaign on the Southern tracks
and the winter season at New Orleans,
Elkin ran second nearly forty times. and
nearly every one OF these races he Yves
good enough to win II he hadn't been 80
Internally polite. 1t appeared as II he
horse that challenged him.
"Elkin came TO be 4 joke on account o.. ms
money propensity, n the prices
aoruss the board against him were often
queer 20 look at. The layers would put
money q place and 1 to 2 third; They
to have the right line at. that. in
it for granted that Elkin couldn't by
any possibility run into the first position.
Fl once saw Elkin quoted at Is to to win !
q field Of fourteen bad horses; and out
Ia the betting for second and third money.
On that occasion Elkin allowed n OF the
bad horses to beat him by a face on the
tape. and the bookies were thus .vindicated
In having refused TO lay any kind OF price
against him for anything but the first
aElkin's owner was perhaps he stub
man that ever live He simply
would not play Elkin 20 run anywhere else
IN the winning hole, even after the
horse had showed his astounding perform
ance of running second nearly forty times.
He'd bet 500 on Elkin TO win every time the
old horse went 10 the post during that last
Of his racing career, but despite the
pIoadlngs Of his friends he wouldn't send
In q nickel on the old chap to do his famous
second money stunt ..
"'No, dog drat him. I'll make him pull
down a first money bet for me yet he
would declare, pigheadedly, and he couldn't
be budged from his stand as TO that
proposition.
throughout that season he could, Of
have picked up all kinds OF money
by Ptringing along for place and third
his competent old second none per-
but ne couldn't and wouldn't see
and 80 throughout the season the
were anxious to ret hold OF his
lfD0 TO win coin when Elkin went TO the
post, because they came to regard II az
lust Gift gum money.
eat the very end OF the winter racing
season at New Orleans, however, Elldn's
owner had Ito cave on the straight
- Eht.s a. far al Ekin was concerned.