The Daily Alaska empire., 1939-03-29
SUCKER TRAP;
 IT Is BARED
John Lardner's column appearing in NEWSWEEK, March 27 issue.

in NEWSWEEK, March 27 issue.
 The Kentucky Derby is not the oldest horse-racing fixture in the United States, nor the richest. nor the truest. The Travers, run at Saratoga since 1864, is the oldest The Belmont Futurity and the Santa Anita Handicap pay nearly twice as much in prizes as the Derby The Belmont Stakes. at mile and half, is said to be truer test of three-year-olds mettle.
 But the Derby is the peoples race, and one proof of this is the amount of money-sucker money, undoubt- edly--that the people pay into fu- ture, or winter, books on the running of the classic at Louisville.
 The future books open in March, with the publication of the entry 1 list. One hundred and fifteen horses. are entered in this years Derby, and, though the race will not be run till May 6, the betting is lively this minute and getting livelier. Book makers estimate tn at the total handle on Derby future bets will be more than $2,000,00O between now and May 1, all on a play -or-pay basis, which means that you gamble not only on your horses chance in the race but on his chance of run ming at all
 Freak Betting
 Col. Edward Riley Bradley, the poker faced, poker-spined gambler and horse breeedr who has won four Derbies in eighteen years, sometimes offers to l that you can't name a Derby starter in February. That's not charity Comparing this years entry list of 115 with the average starting field of from twelve to fif- teen animals you can see that the correct odds are nearly to l.
 Come to think of it, Bradley was badly trimmed once at his own par Tor game. In 1923 his offer was over heard and gobbled up by Harry Sin clair and Joshua s. Cosden. owners of three-year-old named Zev and Martingale respectively. They bet S5,000 each that their horses would start in the Derby. They did. They ran one-two. They cost Colonel Bradley $50,000.
 That shows you what lengths avarice will drive man to- said the Colonel sardonically, as he paid off. Sinclair didn't think he had a chance in the world with Zev"
 It's true that Sinclair regarded zev as mere sprinter. It needed the advice of Earl Sande-and pos sibly the goad of Bradleys bet-to make the oil man start his horse.
 Beats Them, Sometimes | Bradley who shares with Col. Matt J. Vim. promoter of the race, the title of Mir Derby, has trounced the future books himself now and then. He bet $500 on his own Brok- CTS Tip in 1892, at 40 to l. Brokers Tip won by a nose from Head Play, as Jockeys Don Meade and Harry Fisher wrestled and cursed in their saddles. The Colonel also did well with Bubbling Over, 1926 winner, which was 12 to l in the future books.
 But all racing experts, Bradley among them, will tell you that the | future book is sucker trap. For instance, this years winter favorite, Fl Chico, is meager 4 to 1 in sev- eral books. No bookmaker offers more than to against him. When you consider that the true odds against single hore's starting, let alone winning, the race are to 1, you perceive the terrible folly of your ways.
 1 Still, if you like Fl Chico, there he is, at 4, 5, or to l. Other win ter favorites are Technician, to 1 Challedon, Benefactor, and Johns- town, 10 to l; xalapa Clown and Porter's Mite, Is to 1; Third Degree, Hash, Impound, Lightspur, and Yale o Nine, 20 to l Inscoelda, Ariel Toy, and Steel Heels, 30 to l and No Competition, Teddy Kerry, Time Alone, and Up the Creek, 40 to l.
 Hurry Up Bet
 If you want to ride with the Bradley horse, as the hardboots of Kentucky do every year, his name is Benefactor But your bet should be made in hurry, for the odds will not stay at 10 to 1Hardboot money will press the price down
 As for long shots, some of them are Jay Heart and Our Laddie, 1000 to 1; Worthy Matron and Prince Saxon, 800 to 1; and Scotch Trap, Say Judge, and Shambles, 400 to 1.