Evening star., 1926-09-12


u NE day at the track picked
( up big. ferocious.iooking
! Greek; In two minutes !
~ had given him horse. He
was easy. one OF those fel-
lows who have gnawing hunger for
the "inside dope" \ baby could have
touted him. How long had he been
walking around loose? I wondered.
gave him such a hot tip that he put
down big bet for himself and $40
bet for me.
Starting time was near. I never
like to he with patron Al the finish
No tout does. Even the best sport
may be a trif1e annoyed with tout
who picks loser. I always give
client for whom I have picked a loser
a chance to cool off before going to
see him again. II my horse wins. |
Immediately hunt out my patron. So
I said to the Greek:
See YOU in a few minutes. Nick.
I'm going down to the stables and talk
to couple of the jockeys ! am get
ting my information FROM
He scowled like a wild animal.
NO" he growled. "a fellow did that
to me Yesterday. The horse lost and
lost 5000 And the fellow never
came back. Another fellow did the
same thing last week. Maybe it's a
swindle. And maybe you're swim
die. II the horse loses l will know.
Then YOU look out
He was bursting with suppressed
rage. Everybody in the world had
been touting him with sad results. nd
| had been unlucky enough to come
on the scene just at the boiling point.
1t looked as though l would get a
beating if my horse lost. The Greek
was both strong and 1.-THE. was
sure that he could both outrun and
Outright me. All | could do was wait
ana hope that Providence would be
kind enough to bring my horse in a
winner
| have never watched a race with
such palpitations OF the heart 1
watched that horse like a hawk The
colOrs were green and white: The
jockey had g. broad green stripe down
his back. That green and white was
third. then fourth, then fifth. The
horse was out of it. could see that.
I turned frightened gla nee to the
Greek beside me. But his face was
tense with excitement and hope. His
eyes were fixed on the first horse. l
looked. too. and saw the rea son. The
colors were blue and white A broad
stripe OF blue decorated the Jockeys
back. /, as an old race track goer.
wUnld never confuse the green and
The blue. but the Greek. q novice, had
confused them. l let out A tremen.
dous howl in his ear.
Hes winning. He's winning, Coma
on. there"
Come on, there" he began to veil
1t was thrilingly close race. 7
nearly died with excitement. The
Greek nearly died too. In close
finish blue and white won.
The Greek was dazed with delight
You've won" yelled. "Go on and
get your money" And ! pushed him
toward the betting booth. In an in.
slant the name Of the winner would
he posted and he would be disillu.
stoned.
Sure, I've won.' he howled. and
took 1t on wild run to the booth.
took it on the run in the opposite e
direction. I'm still wondering what
happened when that whoOping Greek
got down there in the betting ring
and tried to collect. l left town that
night and went down to the track at
Bowie
That Incident sickened me with
touting for while. l was ready to
be sickened. anyway. Through nv
run Of luck at touting / had few
thousand In the bank. thought I
might as well pick few winners
for myself. That's what you ALWAYS
think. So l went ahead as a profes
sional better.
1T was matter Of playing the
.mutuels. The Southern tracks are
on the mutuel system. 1t is different
game from betting with the book.
makers. The mutuel system has
many a funny twist and turn which
the cunning better can calculate
upon. | worked the game carefully
and made money at it. I PLAYED small
sums on each race every day, watch
ing for the curious breaks Of the sys-
tenn and taking advantage of them
whenever / could.
The newspaper handicap ppers give
daily in advance their selections of
proba BILE winners and probable odds.
An official Handicapped gives his Sc
lections. But the actual odds are
determined by the distribution of the
bets placed in the mutuel booths at
the tracks. The people who have bet
on the winning horse to win have
distributed among them in accorda nee
with the, size Of their bets the money
that has been bet on other horses
10 win. Thus II 81 900 has been bet
on the winner and $4,000 on the
losers. then the people who bet on
the winner collect 10 to 1. In addi-
ton, there are categories for place