Evening star., 1938-03-26
RACE EBETTORS BAT
0NLYAT zoo RATE
Losers Average 80 Per Cent
OF Players Over Span
of Winter Meets.
BY GRANTLAND RICE.

3SAAAN1A, Tld., MdICll zO.-W Ildl .
the price against beating the races?
You lay it-and I'll take it. Your cor
respondent has just swung from Santa
Anita on the Pacific to Tropical Park
on the Atlantic, and the answer is the
same.
Here's an angle. In the course of
81 days of racing at Santa Anita, un-
der the more careful supervision pos
sible, there were 456 races run. In the
course of this meeting, the three lead
ing handicappers or pickers, all on
the inside, averaged 1873 winners and
3l8 losers.
These men knew the owners, the
trainers, the jockeys and the horses.
The majority Of their selections were
favorites-even money or 8 to S.
which the rank and file of players
usually duck.
Yet they barely made the 300 grade
with the 700 tab against them. You
know where 300 ball club finishes.
Just about this same average held at
Hialeah and is holding at Tropical
Park.
You can beat 'em for a race-you
can beat EN- for day-you may beat
'em for a week-but you can't beat the
Old percentage in any extended stand.
Winners About 20 Per Cent.
When you hear of $4,000 900
showed through the machines at Santa
Anita-or the millions wagered at Hia-
leah or Tropical Park-that doesn't
mean a flock of customers came out
with $4,000, ,000 or whatever it was, in
fresh cash. The winners bet their
money back again.
The track and the State and the
Government are about S4,000,0O0 or
more out in front.
1t gets down again to a matter Of
beating old man percentage-which
can't be done in any game for any
length OF time.
There always are few winners at
any track. At Santa Anita, for ex-
ample-to use one of the most sue
cessful tracks in all racing history
at least 80 per cent finished on the
wrong side.
Ihere was something like $38 00O, 900
Oct and something like $34,OO0,00
won. The net loss to the million or
more players or customers was around
$4,0O0,o00. The same average went
Tor Hialeah and is working out about
the same at Tropical Park It works
out about the same at every track.
No Systems Work.
Racing now is the major money
sport Of the country Through the
mutuels. bookmakers and handbooks
the money annually bet runs into hun
dreds OF millions of dollars.
The big majority are the smaller
bettors-the 50 players.
There Is no question but that rae
ing offers more deep-seated thrills to
It's followers. than baseball, fighting or
football. But only l in 100 can beat
the game. It's game for thrills
but not a game for making money.
I've seen well-known owners and
trainers go three racing days in a
row without cashing bet. I ought
to know-because I've had them mark
my card.
Gambling, the idea OF getting some
thing for nothing, is the leading hu-
man instinct. There are millions who
don't drink. But almost every form
OF human life is gamble-from the
stock market and racing to real es-
tate or bridge or golf.
The only way to wipe out gam
bling is to kill off most of the human
Gas you might say race
Choice Players Take Rap.
In most games the percentage is
against you. Years ago, when times
were better, when conditions we're
sounder, one Of the leading men in
The stock market, now a famous world |
hgure told me that over the course
of time only about 2 per cent of his |
customers made any money. Over 80 |
per cent finished on the losing side.
In racing, the smaller players 70 |
After longer shots. And few of them
win. But when Play May at Santa |
Anita came through at $670 to 50
there was heavy firing from the multi
tude at large on anything above so |
to /. The heavier players usually |
stick to the favorites. But they also
take the rap. Only about IS per
cent of the favorites win.
What's the answer? There isn't |
any-as long as human nature re-
mains human nature.
For all that it might be simpler If
there were nobody around with a tin.
Copyright, 1888. by the North American |