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SHIFTING FORTUNES OF THE PLUNGERS. The stories of fortunes won and lost by bookmakers and backers are largely exaggerated, generally based on guess-work nd as to the main feature as apt to be wrong as right. But people who follow the horses find them believable and fascinating and will find the following estimate by an eastern writer of the het results of the season of 1906 to men who figure prominently of New York tracks Interesting: "If the bookmakers win, of course, the backers must lose. Those who know how fond John A. Drake Is of racing feel sure that he cannot have won on the season, because he announced four weeks ago that he was done with the game, as the bookmakers would never lay him a fair price. Still, there is excellent authority for the story that when the gelding General Haley won at Gravesehd. on June 19, 50,000 "was taken out of the ring by Mr. Drake and his friends. There was plenty of time, however, to lose back this enormousVambunt and more. Mr. Drake lias not been at the races for several -weeks. "Another heavy laser on the season Is Chicago OBrien, a man who makes a specialty of betting as far out oil the limb as possible. lie is" a-persistent backer of short-priced horses and : his favorite- bet is to wager : 4"1 to 1 on the favorite to be third. If he loses one of these bets lie must win four bets at the same odds to get even. Yet in the course of eleven years he has acquired a" fortune of : 00,006 by- that method, lie is known to have bet 0;O0d on a favorite at the odds named. He is about 0,000 out on the year. "One of- the features ; of the racing- season has been the Unremitting efforts of John W. Gates to beat Cad Daggett, a clubhouse commissioner1, who will accept a 0,000 wager1 on anodds-on favorite and never turh a hair. A1 friend of Mri Gated said recently that he was inspired- by the same desire that a man has-who tries4 ttt breakMhfe bank"" at Monte Carl6. if Mr. Gates could siiCceed Iii breaks ing Cad Doggett he would feeT stf " pleased that he would be ttieflrst man tbrglve? Doggett a new start In life again recently saldageritlemaii well versed In the matter. Thus" fair "ttie duel between the two Is about even. "George W. Langdon won $.14,000 one day at the Sheepshead Bay Jitne riieetlnfr aiid promptly invested about one-third that? amount? in the Ally Flip Flap, hoping id win ttie Brighton Handicap with her, but she was cut down during1 the race; Then she was rested up for the Clip; and it was bitter hard liick for Langdon and Ills friends When they saw the despised Holsclier beat her. This defeat cost Langdon a lot of money. " Dave Johnson has bad a great year thanks to his sure and certain brdad winner, Roseben; but at the Jamaica: track, he lost 3,000, of which 4,000 was on Keator, which was left at the post. "George Wheelock, who has given up Maying to become a player from the ground, is reported1 0,000 loser on the year. So is Packy Ryan of Chicago. Johnny Lyons of San Francisco, left here several weeks ago a heavy loser. lie is the most extensive operator on the coast. He won a lot of money oh Rubric- one day at Brighton. " Little Pete Christensen, a man seldom heard of, is, like Chicago OyBrien, a: persistent show player. He is a winner, however, to the extent of 0,000. The day that Ballot was third at Belmont Park in the Champagne Stakes, Little Pete wagered ,00d to win and ,000 to show on Mr. Keenes colt. "Five years ago Little Pete was a waiter In the Tivoli Cafe, Eddy Street, San Francisco. He .played the races in the-handbooks, got into a lucky streak and since then has "never looked back. For the last two years, he has been a regular on eastern tracks. He will visit Europe this fall and get back in time for the Christmas holidays at San Francisco. "Despite heavy losses up to the close of the Sheepshead Bay June meeting, L. A. Cella, the western bookmaker, is now a winner -on the year. The exact amount, like the winnings of Cowan and others, can only be approximated. Maxey Blumenthal is also winner, arid though he lost 5,-000 in one day he is now reported 0,000 ahead. " Joe Rose is another who is ahead. His partner, Bill Jackman, left for California some weeks ago with some heavy losses to recoup if he can. Bill Beverly, In his quiet, unassuming way, is as usual, a winner on the year. Henry Harris, Henry Wendt, Al Haupt, and others are winners. Tyler of late has lost though at one time he was well ahead. "George Rose, the bookmaker, declared at the Jamaica track that It would be his last day as a layer this yea on eastern tracks. He says he is 00,000 ahead On the season and is satisfied to keep there. Rose did not begin to lay odds oh the eastern tracks this year until the second meeting at Gravesehd. Nevertheless, in the period which has elapsed since the first week in June, Rose says he has handled in his books 0,000,000. He persistently lays against horses which Seem to figure as best, according to the handicappers. He will take any reasonable amount on a horse at even money or less. Rose seldom or never bets on a horse himself, and when he does it is invariably on "one which the public has made favorite, and lie likes it. all the better if it is ah odds-on favorite. " Billy Cowan is declared to be even a much larger winner on the season than is George Rose. He has many constituents -who have standing orders with him to book bets which they fancy overnight and which they telephone or write to him about. Often these bettors do not send or receive any settlements for weeks at a time. Sol Lichteh-stein, one Of the Shrewdest men in the ring and usually .a nig. winner, is reported to be a little better than even on the season. "George Boles, who has backed several books this season, is about 3,000 ahead on the year. He, too, never hesitates to lay the favorite, especially ah cveri money or odds-on horse. Still, he will at times, lay long ones. Once this year he laid the odds at 200 against Caronal, which hnrse was at 50, 20 and 10. He rah nowhere, but If he had won Boles would have paid out to Harry MeCarty 6,000. The bet was made on behalf of Charles E. Morris, a wealthy Montana miner. As to the number of bank rolls which have been lost, at least a hundred backjiners went on at the early spring meeting, and out of that there are barely ten to be seen now. In the field, however, there are no complaints from layers, who seem to do well la that section the year round, though often enough they have overlaid the odds on winning horses. But the field game always was a good one."
