Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-08

tracks to discover the indubitable fact that
the racing game can be beaten, and that 1t
is being beaten all the time The regulars
do beat it. They don't always win and they
don't always lose. but they stay along with
1t without doing anything else as a means
to livelihood. They assuredly live a
.ly, as a rule. than most folks When they're
winners they fly high, without indulging
in dissipation to any extent. and when
they're down and out they always get the
helping hand
Regulars Help One Another.
That by. the way, is one of the most
notable thing in connection with the racing
regulars They're forever giving each
other lift. The man who is up. with the
money in his pocket, never even thinks of
refusing to stake a fellow regular who
has been getting the worst of the conflict.
It's an understood thing. All Of the thou
SANDS OF regulars around the different
tracks friends of each other They've
all been bucking the game alongside each
other for years. At every stage of the
journey they're about equally divided be-
tween winners and losers. But the loser,
even if he be all in, has no occasion to re-
pine: He knows a hundred fellows in
funds who will start him off again He in
his prosperous periods, has In turn done
his share of the stalking.
The regular who, at the windup Of the
summer racing season, is broke. and wants
have any difficulty in getting himself fixed
out. Maybe last year he fixed out in the
same way two or three chaps who are there
with the money this year, and they are
there with the helpful hand when their for
mer stalker needs the lift. Otherwise they
wouldn't be regulars, that's all.
Now, using the keenest possible system
of elimination, know perhaps five hundred
regulars who have never done anything else
for quarter of a century except follow the
horses. They've had mighty comfortable
time, and they're still sleek and in the
game Even the bookmakers five the hand
to the regulars. When one of them goes
down and out, for example, one of the lay
ers will take him on with his crew as sheet
writer or cashier or outside man until he
gets a-going again. So that 1t is really
sort of mutual benefit association, the ring
crowd at race tracks.
And, for that matter, even the racing
associations have to give ear to the demands
of the body of regulars. when, as happens
once in a great while, the regulars take
stand for something they want and are en-
titled to. The racing associations well know
that the regulars are the mainstay and the
backbone of their gate receipts and that
without the 1900 or 10000 regulars who
are on hand at the eastern tracks from the
beginning to the end of the season, rain or
shine, hot or cold, race horses couldn't be
run at all. Without the regulars the gate
receipts wouldn't permit of the game con-
tinuing
Would 1 advise anybody to seek to be-
come a racing regular? Oh now you're in
fringing upon the domain Of ethics, and
ethics isn't exactly in my line. l never bet
penny horse race in my life and
never intend to, although I have been
around race tracks since 1 first began to
shave. I am speaking strictly of the regu-
lars. about whom you asked me. I'm not
talking Of the thousands and thousands of
fellows whom I've seen driven to the devil
by the horse game long before they ever
had chance to join the regulars. That's