The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

| utes the father, chnglRg 10 the hagpole
 air. while the spectators gasped and shu'
 ...................ss... la wild. but futile attempt to round out their books by offering special induce ments against the other horses, but the public would have none of 1t. The race was not even interesting a contest Johnny Reiff. on Royal Flush, won by six lengths from Americus, who was ridden by Lester Relff who was three parts of a length In front of Elopement, ridden by another American jockey, Rigby. The coup had been successful, but there was a frowning in the ring and frowning in the stewards stand that showed how Ideeply the iron had struck.
 One of the stewards, who was name
 less in the English papers. but who was generally supposed to be Lord Durham, lpetulantly remarked the horses went past the finish post that If he had luis way he would rule off any man that stood to win $25000o on any race" When Gates was told of this at dinner party in the Cecil that night by a reporter he was quoted as saying that his lordship must Ihave been misunderstood. and that what he undoubtedly meant was that any man who had such a horse as could win such a race easily and only stood to win Iquarter of a million on him was either an imbieile or a piker, both of which would | be undesirable patrons of the English turf. The Royal Flush episode concluded any Large wagering on futures in England
 Probably no one except his son, Charlie lGates, and his friends and partners, John A. Drake and Ortson C. Wells knew cX lactly how much money the winning of , the Stewards Cup by Royal Flush netted l; lGates. but after he had given s50000 to the trainer. Wishard, s100O0 to Johnny Reiff and was most generous Lord Bounser- , full to every one connected with the stable he told his friends on more than one oc- casion that after paying all expenses of the trip he returned with more than $500 OO0 British money to this country-a sum which he immediately sent into the mar ket in anticipation of the reelection of President Mckinley.
 After his coup MT Gates was not pop lular with the English racing folks. Irhere were insinuations that stimulants had been administer to some of ehe horses in the stable-insinuatons that mad not a title of evidence to sustain them-but Gates did not like the marrying. and he returned to this country. He had har- Ivested his crop, and the aftermath did not appeal to him. Up to this time he had rot been particularly prominent on the turf. Tn fact, it was not until two years later that he became of the spectacd cdlar lhgures on the American turf.
 ln 1902 the Drake stable contained two horses that were destined to play an i'm portant part in the stakes of the year. One of these was a three-year-old,
 Wyeth, that later won the American
 Derby from Lucien Appleby. The other was Savable, a two-year-old. that in one of the most sensational Futurities beat
 Lord of the Vale by the shortest of heads. Gates had a big wager on Wyeth, but he won practically nothing on Sava-
 ble. not caring for the horse ndi-
 vidual
 The excitement of betting, the quick ex- change. of money. the enthusiasm of the minute or so when fate was held in the balance, the openness of it all. appealed to Gates. Then. too he had triumphed in England, beaten the game in its own home, won the American Derby and the Futuritys and so he went at it with zest that was amazing. Of course he did not daily bet the huge sums ascribed to him.
 but he never was a piker A wager of 5000 was not at all unusual, nor was one : of s25O0O extraordinary, but he was not an Iindiscriminate better. He accepted the judgment of an owner or trainer in whom ? he had confidence precisely he would the report of expert that he had sent out for judgment on a railroad, .nine ) or a mill.
 Having got that report or that judg- rnent, ne went aneaQ. lie played lnfOr- nation almost exclusively, and as he was generous in his rewards he usually ob- tained the best. He detested going into the ring personally. Sometimes he bet lready money through agents in the ring |thus affordng no clue as to the source whence 1t came, but ordinarily he made his own wagers. As a rule he wagered with Richard c. Duggett, one of the club house commissioners. or with John Wal h.. ,.,,,- o all the set that accepted wagers from the Ihigh-rolling constituency.
 Gates seemed to find particular enjoy ment in dealing with Duggett. There could not possibly be two men more wide lily different in stature and temperament than these two. Duggett, a little fellow, Inot much more than five feet in helgh-, once a lightweight jockey for the Oneck stable, cold in demeanor, sparing O, speech, there could scarcely be two more directly opposite. Gates was big, ,lusrling, breezy, talking in superlatives. And yet Gates liked to wager with Duggett. It may have been that the common quality Iof gameness in both was what attracted
 Be that as it may, Gates liked 70 deal with him, and it was one of the features of the days when the Wall street man 'unbelted'' himself to hear him and Dug gett.
 The price against Roseben?''
 Even money MT. Gates Duggett might answer
 For $25,000?" Gates would query
 'A1 right, sir" And then turning to his clerk, Duggett would say. MT. Gates $25o0O even on Roseben" And then to MT. Gates. Will there be anything more on this race, sir?''
 And the s25.o0o would go If Duggstt didn't want to accept all of it as q per sonal wager he would lay it off among other pencilers, frequently at profit. so he won. even though Gates did
 Reports differ as to how much money Gates and Drake took out of the ring at Morris Park on the day that Roseben won