Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-06-14
The Once Over
rHE NOBLE SPORT oF HoRsE-RACING

Horse-racing is a game Of chance conducted en-
tirely by ear and designed to prove that a man will
believe anything he hears in a whisper.
1t is a red-hot form Of speculation conceived in
rumor, reared on false information and dedicated to
the proposition that all men are created gullible. 1t is
the one sport in which anybody will Swallow anything
provided the news comes soto voice.
Tell a man that Dorothy Gish is a cinch to whip
Jack Dempsey, that the Rutgers eleven can't miss
against Yale, or that One-Eyed Connolly Is a sure
bet to defeat Hoover in the next election and he will
chase you out Of the office. But put your hand to
your lips and hiss that Three-Legged Jane is a sure
thing to beat Blue Larkspur in a stake race and he
will welcome all the misleading details and cry for
more.
There Is something about two or more horses run
ming around a circle carrying midgets in gay silk
blouses that makes a man believe in Aesop, Kris
Kringle, the gold-pot at The end Of the rainbow, fairy
godmothe-s and pearls in oysters.
The average man will cross-examine you sternly
and skeptically on any investment proposition net
ting six per cent or better and tell you to come back
next Thursday, but he will knock you down in his
rush for a bookmaker at the mere suggestion that 1t
is ali set for GreasebaI III to win the Derby at
100 to i.
1t is the Sport Of Kings, but it is supported by the
Jacks, Deuces and Jokers. All you have to have to
get in is a simple trusting nature, an aversion to hard
facts and a firm belief in dreams, lunches, supersti-
tons, shush-stuff and those bedtime stories put out
in table form and called form charts.
The racing addict may doubt the story Of Genesis.
the law of gravitation and the Einstein theory, but
he believes with all sincerity that all horses un-
attached to wagons are charity -workers and that the
big idea back of thoroughbred breeding is to provide
new shoes for baby.
Nowhere else in the world can as much ~credibility
be found within a given area as at a r~ace-track and
under no other conditions can as many wrong gueSses
find a receptive audience in a isngle afternoon.
Tips from prosperous appearing spectators are
welcome at any track, but the great bulk Of popular
information comes from strangers needing a shave,
a hair cut and new heels.
1t never seems to dawn on a racing bug that he
can get Just as much reliable information listening to
a leaking tire or the murmer from an electric fan.
It's a great pastime, but you can't look on without
wondering why the customers aren't in the stalls
eating the hay, and the horses out on the lawn wear
ing the admission badges.
NAVIGATION MENACES
Col. Lindbergh Ito his BRIDE: Pardon me just a
few minutes; 1 think there is a newspaper man
caught in the propeller.
The trouble with the young people today Is that
they spend too much time studying the tariff and
reading the reparations agreement and never getting
any fresh air or outdoor exercise.
King Zog OF Albania is said TO be the hardest
working king in all the world. HI presumably takes
four swings at the golf ball instead Of the customary
three.