The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-01-03
0NE|LL FAvORS
FRENCH SYSTEM
Famous Jockey Says Pari.
Mutuels Keep the Sport
Clean.

st. Louis. Mo-. Jan. 3.-When rae
ing comes hack to st. Louis, my native
city. I. hope that 1t will be under the
part-mutuel system now in Use In
France. says Jockey frankie O'Neil,
who is here ON a visit 10 his parents.
know that 1t is customary tor PEG.
pie going abroad to praise everything
European and irown upon things in
our own country. but no one tina. has
never seen racing in France can
imagine the wonderful success the
sport has achieved under. the system.
Since my return | have been be-
sieged With questions asking mo ~
explain the system of netting. and
people seem to have such a vague
idea OF what the pari-mutuel Is that
an explanation OF its workings cannot
prove interesting and Instructive
to the masses.
Everybody who has gone to the
races has helped make UP hat pools
II has had q lot of fun out of them.
IN a nat pool the players are limited
70 the number Of horses in the race.
Each person puts up an equal amount.
and to correspond to the
numbers Of the horses ON the
are thrown into a hat and drawn by
lot. The person drawing the number
OF the winning horse takes the pot.
Only Big Hat Pool.
The pari-mutuel Is nothing more
lthan a big hat pool. except that more
than n ticket a be held on ono
morse n the association takes out a
percentage OF the pot for the raca
fund. In France per cent is
the state for the Improvement Of tn.
breed Of horses.
The French government owns over
'oV stations. which are used to breed
cavalry horses, with the result that
the French army Is the best mounted
IN the world.
The pari-mutuel machines are a
mechanical continuance for the mr.
pose, OF indicating to the public the
number OF tickets sold on each horse.
Each horse has a number on the ma.
chine to correspond to it's number on
the program.
All tickets have a uniform value
and the public makes the odds be-
cause the horse on which the greatest
number of tickets sold is the favorite'
Io be more explicit. Suppose in this
City the uniform price Of tickets was
II. II four horses were running in
a race and 500 tickets were sold on
No: l. 300 on No. :, 200 on No. 3, and
100 on No. 4: there would be a total
OF l.1OO tickets sold. and consequent
~ Sl.lO0 in the pool.
Deduct Five Per Cent.
II five per cent was taken OIL, for
the ace funG !. would leave sl.o45
ticket would pay $40. or a little
over even n If 80. /. should
win. the tickets would pay S3.45, or
2l:2 to ], ana so down the list the
odds on the winner being based on the
number Of tickets sold on it.
The public can figure the odds at
the time the tickets are purchased.
bacause the exact number OF tickets
sold is shown on the indicator, but
these odds are subjec, to quick chang
es. as there might be 100 tickets sold
on a horse between the time one pur-
chases a ticket and post time.
The %pari-mutue! abolishcs the
p!unger. because he can never tell
the odds that he is receiving, and the
very weight Of his WI money serves
10 shorten the odds. 1t does awas
With the Jockey hriber and the middle
man. because there is no one to profit
by the defeat of a horse. During nv
entire career In France l have never
had any one approach me with a
shady offer.