Evening star., 1941-09-09

MeLemOre. The other day
at Aqueduct it suddenly occurred to
me that I never was going to get
close to that window except as a
sightseer, and that I might as well
find out what the visiting hours
were and go and have look at it.
That isn't as simple as it sounds,
either.
At Aqueduct, as at all New York
tracks, the 500 window is in pr1-
vate room, with guard standing
at the door. He can spot 500 face
a mile off and it has been brought
home to me rather forcibly that
haven't got one.
When I started to brush past him,
doing my best to look like a man
who paid his insurance premiums
in a lump sum he stopped me as
much with the look of unbelief in
his eyes as with his What do you
want to go in there for. Buddy?"
explained to him that 1 simply
wanted to go in and look around.
He listened to my story and finally
let me in, and for three races I saved
myself 81 a race while watching
tens of thousands of dollars being
bet. OF course, every once in a
while I would saunter to the door
and stand there, hoping that some
one I knew would go by and see me.
The 500 tickets are punched out
on an automatic machine just as the
81 tickets are. I came close to turn
ing over a flower pot when one gen
tleman walked up to the seller three
minutes before the race and SAID:
Start punching and keep punching
until the bell rings" t
The cashier had punched out
nearly $1,000 worth Of tickets be-
fore the horses got off, and when
the big better walked out to see the
race, I started talking to the seller.
He was as unconcerne1 as If
$1,000 were his daily pay instead of
more than twice his yearly salary.
4
you can't pay any attention TO
money around here" he told me.
IF you did you'd get scared OF
money and then you couldn't hold
your job. If I happen to punch the
wrong ticket I have to keep 1t
myself, and unless the horse should
happen to win, the price of the
ticket comes out of my salary"
I did a little mental figuring. II
the sellers finger had hit the wrong
key he would have been all but
ruined.
But the race tracks don't put fell
lows who hit many wrong keys in
these super-sucker salons. They pick
veterans-this one had been a mu-
tuel clerk for the last Is years-who
are just as cold -blooded gamblers as
the men who shove the money across
TO them.
The seller told me he had taken
a few losses in his time, and was
still waiting for his first wrong ticket
to prove a winner.
His job is no tougher than the
cashiers. When a man has bet
$4,000 on a horse, the cashier has
to pay of in bills of denominations
that even Louis B. Mayer would be
inclined to carry in a money belt or
In the toe Of his shoe.
tits aggravating the way these
81 900 bills stick together" cashier
said, thumbing a packet of them big
enough for door stop. He wet
them down with a sponge to avoid
the possibility of handing out two
for one and having the extra one
come out of his salary.
The private betting rooms Of the
five New York tracks cashed slightly
more than $4,000, 900 worth of checks
for customers last year. During
Belmont's spring meeting several of
the steady players had as much as
5000, 900 on deposit in the betting
room.
Not many of the high-rollers beat
the 500 window while I was at
Aqueduct. But there is q fellow
planning to move in next year who
won't be able to lose. Win, place,
show or out of the money, he is
going to collect every day.
He is a tall, bewhiskered gentle
man in star-spangled stove-pipe
hat, who figures that the horse may
not be here to stay unless there are
few tanks to protect him.