The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-25
HARD ON BETTORS
Few FavOrites Are Winning on
Eastern Race Tracks.
TOuts Have Disappeared Since
BOOkieS Are No More.
BY FRANK G. NIENKE.


New York, July 25.-The boys who
race tracks are weeping. crashing
their molars, tearing their matches
and otherwise registering anguish.
The favorites are not coming home in
front with any degree of consistency.
AS result, there is woe hereabouts.
The way in which the so-called
class horses have been beaten by the
truckers has begun to appal the
professional gamblers who play favor
ites-and nothing else. Their once
plump bank rolls have shriveled away
like a slab of ice in the July sunlight
Over a weeks stretch, involving
three days at Aqueduct and three at
the Empire track. outsiders won
twenty-five out of the thirty-six races
that were run. In nine of the four
teen combats, in which the favorites
were victorious, the winning horses
were odds-on; meaning that the col
lections for the "profs' in these af-
fairs were very small, indeed.
One professional told US that that
'ill-fated week" had cost him $1,000.
81 plunged 500 on every race" he
said. That meant all outlay of SO, 500
for the week. 1 got back a profit of
exactly 5000 for winning the fourteen
bets, plus my 81. 400 bet on those four
teen races. AltOSetn0Ts $Z,SOU was re-
turned to me against my original out
lay of $4,000 meaning that 1 lost
$1,000 on the week, although picked
fourteen winners out of SO: OIL yoi,"
High Noon Costly Favoritc.
High Noon, the great James Butler
sprinter. continues to be the chute
through which the wise ones'' have
been dropping huge bankrolls. A SEN
sation last year. High Noon is unable
to do anything even ordinary this sea-
son.
IN practically all of the races in
| " hich he has been entered, High
Noon has been made the favorite But
| the fast thoroughbred had dumped"
his hackers on almost every occasion
| this year by his failure to romp in
| ahead. Second place is the best he
| seems able to do.
No horse can get away from the
post faster than High Noon, nor can
| any runner match his great stride for
the first three or four furiongs. But
| then High Noon seems to stuff away
and one or the other of the stretch
runners breeze along, overtake him
and lead him to the finish line
After High Noon. played from one
end of the track to tie other, d week
or so ago, was beaten out by He Will,
the gambling element raised its right
mitt and murmured Never again"
| No Standard Prices.
| Shopping" for odds is now one of
| the popular outdoor sports at the
New York tracks. Different layers
| offer different prices. There il, no
uniformity in wagering. One layer
may offer to 1 against horse; the
next may mako it 8 to 1 or to 1,
according to his own particular ideas.
The tendency of the small Layers,
however is to offer odds much lower
than the big men lay. That has been
shown on repeated occasions One in
stance was the case of Carlton c.,
which won at the Empire track in a
fifteen horse field. The small layers
offered an average of to 1 against
the horse while the big fellows laid
making of 10 and IS to 1. On all the
other horses in the field the small
fellows prices were from 20 to so per
cent smaller than those of the big
boys.
And so the hoi polloi, before placing
bets with its own layers these days
wanders around, get the consensus OF
the prevailing odds and then force its
owns layer to meet those prices, I'M
der penalty of losing its business.
Touts Have Gone.
Touts are unknown on the New
York tracks these days! In the other
era, when betting was a la bookie and
conducted in the open, the woods were
quit business permanently when the
ponies were ruled out of the state
some years ago.
Touting, under present betting con
ditions, sizes up as a rather difficult
task. No one can absolutely spot the
man who is going to d his wagering
until he has made his bet. The bet
tor shrouds his moves and a tout
therefore, would have quite jot
picking up a victim for his '.surt
thing tips
-o@ -HY0