view raw text
CHANGES IN AMERICAN BETTING WAYS. Pari-Mutuel Likely to Be Used at Louisville— Very Popular Down East Formerly. New York. March 4. — Ckafa is a still hunt going on here for all the pari-mtituel machines that can be found. Malt Winn and Charles F. Crainircr have commissioned "BaBMJf Jack McDonald to look up Nelson Kirk, who once was in charge of the ma chines at the Sh.—oisluad Bay, Oravcsend and Brighton Beach tracks before the laws were adopted which prevented their use, aud they will be used f-r the coming meeting at Louisville, unless present plain change. The pari mutuel machine is legal ia Kentucky. Would that we could say as much for New York. And yet it was a ery popular method of horse race wagers away back in the early days of the turf in this state. I well remember that one of the most bitter feuds which existed between prominent spin IlllJt men began about 1870, when George Wilkes and John K. Chambeiiiu quarreled •ret the importation of these machines into this euajatrj Freak Inmr. In due time they were used in conjunction with the strictly American form of betting, known as acajou |Mxdsellii,g, which was brought to the north by Price .MeOralh. 1 have seen William K. Van-di-rbill. as a young man. sit in the last row of chain which faced lie auctioneer under a tent at the Sleepyhead Bay track iu the paddock, at about the rerj spot where the clubs offices now are, ami I i l tar the " ■field" or for the snialler choices iu the auction posts. He was very successful also, winning mai v a bet. It was al.oiit that perio l. or a little before, that eoBBBMM re|iort accredited Mr. Vainlcrhilt Willi h. ing the owner of the good ban d:.-ap bene, George McCulluush. by Harry Basset*, though be ran la the name of Jaha MeChBaagh, a apodal peUceaui sa duty at the crand Central de|„.l. When I was judge at Brighton Beach in its.tir-l lew season -, iu the early eighths, auction pools and the pari iiiiitu. I w re Hie only tonus of betting ssed at thai easjrsA This track was oa of the best te tiill into line anil let iu the IxM.kinaking element. As much :is slj."..n Mi had gone through the machines iu one day there, ami this meant !?".. 251 in p.-i e. ni.igc to the management fhCSI the .ni.l bin past* were the favorite lenaa »f betting with the big men. and "first choice, .0OO," was the usual bejjiuning of th* selling of a pool. The big oper I , • | I j . " t , I ] I I | . I I j i ator did not in those days get much for his money, ] for obvious reasons. "When did bosklaahhaj begin on our race tracks!" was ■ question recently asked me by the editor of oae of our gnat newspapers. From ineni-ary afcaee I was able to teB him that about 1873 1 had area the quotations on certain stakes to be run at Jerome Park- the Withers. Belmont, etc. Henry .Stanford, an Englishman with a flowing beard, ting"d with gray, was the bookmaker. He came to this country on the invitation of some 1 American horsemen who told him that it was a promising field for men in his profession. Then John Morrissey, the former congressman, backed ] James McOowan in some ante-post betting ventures on the New York and Kentucky races, notably the Kentucky Derby. Cradually Cridge and Co. and others came into the business to oppose Kelly and Bliss. w1k began to come in for all the Jerome Park privileges through their friendship with Leonard Jerome. Then the Coney Jockey Club was or- , gaaaaai in lx7:». Kelly and Bliss retained their position as managers of the betting privileges. As racing continued to be popular, there came complaints that the French machines did not turn in as good odds to the populace as would bookmakers and gradually the latter persons were sold the right to locate in statids on the various courses. At one time all three forms of betting could be seen at the metropolitan tracks. Bookinaking outlived the Others, legislation driving them from the tracks and the fad that when a man made a bet with a layer, he km w the odds he was getting, which was not the case when lie bet in the urn fuels, operated to make bookinaking more popular. "Dr. Underwood was the greatest auction i ool-seller that ever lived." said a veteran horseman to ine yesterday. "His coaxing voice, rich with Irish blarney, would make a man bet his last dollar to get a pool." "Did you ever has* Bob Cathcart sell pools:" j was the question of a Kentuekian. "He was tin-best I ever heard. His strong, vigorous, challenging demand. What am I offered for first clioi.eV was like* a bugle blast, lie was a courtly man of the old school and, whenever a Kentuekian wanted to back his horse, it was Cathcart who was given the commission, the horsemen knowing that every dollar that could be got against it would 1m- secured. L J. Bathe.
