The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-06-06

to put a small bet on Cadeau.
Whatever I bet, we agreed, up to
$40, I would bet the same for my
friend who wouldn't be able to see
the race.
"All right, we had a drink to
Cadeau. Then we ordered brandy
and wished him extra luck. We got
mellow and expansive.
when the alarm clock went off
the next morning I had terrible
head. No Baltimore for me. I
stayed in bed. 1t was my own day
off after all, and I slept right
through About in the after
noon, feeling very much refreshed,
I stepped out on the street and
bought paper.
"Cadeau had won the race. The
odds were 287 to l. If had bet
only 50 apiece for us, we'd have
had SLAB"
NADEAU'S historic performance
~ occurred May 7, 1918. But it
is by no means the long shot rec
ord. A mare by the name Of Mu-
zetta w. had won at Ala to l only
three years before, and the year
before, in July, 1912, the record
high price was established at La
tonia.
Wishing Ring was the horse,
and the odds were 941 to 1. But
in any normal year there will be
as many as fifty or sixty horses
paying off at so to 1 or better.
DiSdaining luck in matters of
such urgency the horse players all
have a system. Lillian Russell
useed to close her eyes and stab
her program with a hat pin. Then,
she bet on whatever horse she
found named under the pinpoint.
The icy-blooded calculating
gentry who follow the tracks and
live off them all keep elabo-
rate records and speak with in
variable respect of the mathemat-
ical mind.
lunches don't enter their think
ing. They estimate the speed, class
and temperament of the horses,
the jockeys, position, track, even
the wind.
When they have added their
respective factors and computed
the odds available, they are pre-
pared to announce the winners,
even if by only a nose.
The late Colonel S. L. James
has been called the father Of the
mathematical system. First losing
at the tracks a fortune, which he
had inherited, he decided there
must be some way to beat the
game. He studied it and e1abo-
rated his factors until he knew
how to win.
And he did win at the races
consistently. He died almost pen
niless a year or two ago, having
been unfortunate in lawsuits and
wiped out in the stock market.
THE newspaper racing experts
as a group are not so mathe-
NAUTICAL. They use a common
system. noting time and condi-
lions of past performance, using
clocker'S reports of workouts and
yelling to sentiment on occasion.
The old-time railbirds go heavily
for the way the horse look. They
like to go down to the paddock,
not so much for what tips they
can overhear, but to watch the
horses condition.
They even balance the appear
ance Of the horse as he paradeS to
the post,
One of the few checkers who
bets his own money is a Negro
nicknamed yellow" who used to
be an exercise boy for James R.
Keene. When he runs up his
initial SO bet to several thousand,
he's still ready to risk it all on a
horse he likes.
A few years ago he placed a bet
of $500 with the late Fred Beck,
a famous king of the lawn in his
day Just before the race. Vel
low went over to the paddock and
came hurrying back in dismay
Mr.. Fred, that boss O. mind
don't look so good in the pad
dock" he whispered in the book
makers ear. I'd like to take my
bet off'n him."
Beck turned around, swung his
arm in exaggerated gesture and
shouted at him, Die with the rest
of them"
q 9
TINE notable and outstanding
l. horse player of the American
turf, crater than Bet a Million"
Gates or Pittsburgh Phil when
rated by sustained successes over
a long period. was renowned