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BETTING AND MTTTUEL MANIPULATION MANIPULATIONZugeno Zugeno Zlrod Talks of Ryans Methods Against Hand ¬ books at Lexington and Elsewhere Lexington Kv September 2C No other occur ¬ rence during the meeting of the Kentucky Associa ¬ tion occasioned quite as much discussion is did the play of John T Ryan to boost the odds against Miss Sain through the i arimutuel machines last Tuesday In the auctions Miss Sain was selling at oO to 20 over the field By buying about 700 worth of tickets on Uie field In the inutuels Ryan more than equalized the local support for Miss Sain and got hotter than C to 5 for a heavy wager placed on Miss Sain with the various handbooks of the country The countryThe majority of the people who were in the bet ¬ ting ring at the time and a great many who wore not there have argiiiMl that had not Skyo Miss Fells Toplofty Male Fletcher Lady Hansbiirg and Dora Neft been grouped In the field and had boon sold In ¬ dividually Ryan could not have accomplished Ills purposft purposftIndefeuso Indefeuso of hla Idea of selling a favorite against the field which lie explains Is donw for the purpoe of attracting a great anount of money and con jeoueutly increased commissions Eugene Ulrocl who lia l charge rtf Hit bcltliii ring maintains that the result WiiUl inlVO been the same and that Ryan WHiHl hafo obtained even a better price at very llim Inore cost By costBy way of illustration let us take the calculat ¬ ors slieet on the straight pools sold on tlipt racei said Elrod There wire H3 tickets sold Oil Miss Sain and 118 S3 ntUi ticKets sdlif John Wag ¬ ner tells mo Uiat wibil Ryan began buying the field only tmlrty iitUCtS had been sold on Miss Sain and nvtMU y rMKlit On the field The horses were on their way to the post and they were getting ready to close Now grant that Ryan bought all of the 113 field tickets sold after the first twentyeight were gone Ill show you how lie could have reached the same end if we had been selling Miss Sams six i opponents separately He could have bouaiit sixty tickets on Skyo twenty on Dftfa Neflu fifteen oil Male Fleleuer toil oil Mifs Felix aild five dri each of Uio ouiee Iwj aiid lie would have had exactly Un saint tiling lie got by buying the field and lie WCMRI have stood no greater chance to lose and would have had no more to pay payHis His opportunity for even a better price would have been increased in tlii way lor he and iiis agents would not hiVC attracted the attention they did in biivijm Uie field tickets and would not have occiyjinuett the rusli of the sharpshooters to get on JISS Sain as is shown by the bringing up of her sale In the 5 machine from thirty to 102 tickets The same applies to the 2 machine Ryan machineRyan is credited with a shrewd move In this instance He wan dimply ilrcMlng ail old stUiit iii a new Riirh HoftCMujjllsWd the very saille thliiK at New Orleans last winter where there was book bell HK ill was backing Dr McCluer heavily in tile handbooks throughout the country It was along in the holiday week at City Park and there were twentynine books in line Dr McCluer was opened at to 2 Ryan rushed through Uie ring offering large wagers on Warner Ghswell which had also opened at to a very little of the money he offered was takUtt TliQ result was that Dr McCluors price iWVded I believe to G to 1 At any rate he went to the post at 4J to 1 and Warner Griswell at 4 to 5 Dr McCluer simply cantered home and Ryan got an average of to 1 for tlie money lie het away from the track and better than that for an amount that he wagered just at post time to cover what lie Imd used In boosting the price on his own horse aild knocking down that against Warner Griswell 1 am not an admirer of the tactics Used by Ryan or any other man employing similar methods in the betting ring but I do know that if there were more such plays as ho made at New Orleans and here there would US fewer handbooks in the country and in consequence more people at the race tracks The handbooks are the ruination of the turf So long as they are able to nourish racing will be in bad odor The thing that will inost speedily put an end to them is a reduction of their percentage and there is no speedier way to separate them from their bankrolls than by euch plays as Ryan has made madeJust Just as an illustration of how smart men figure to boat the handbooks and at the same time remain a way from the race tracks detracting dally o mucli from the support of the courses let me tell yon about a business man in Cincinnati 1 asked him why he had not been over to Latorila Wily Gene he said I would b foolish to go to the track to bet my money when I ciii get better odds by betting it In the handbooks here In the city I am fond of seeing the horses run but I forego the pleasure because I do not have to go there to bet and do not have to be put to the temptation of getting away from my own selections and backing the tips that are constantly in circulation on the track Now if I bet mv money at the track either through the mutuels or ivlth bookmakers I cut down the odds just so mueli for every dollar I wager When I bet that money here In the city it has no bearing on the odds at the track It Is just that much less in the ring and consequently the price I get is just that percentage more moreGetting Getting back to the proposition of selling the favorite against the field In the mutuels It cannot be called an Innovation It is as old as the mntuel method of betting It has been done in every country where the machines have been In operation and it was done in this country in the old days There is no really sound argument against It People who make a business of betting nowadays are all good mathematicians and they do not need a pencil and paper to figure percentages They are quick to sec an opportunity for increased percentage as the betting progresses and they are just as quick to take advantage of it In support of this take the case of Tuesday When Ryan began buying tlie tickets on the field against Miss Sain it wasnt thirty seconds before half a hundred men had divined Hs purpose and there was a rush as if the Yale eleven were bucking tlie line Every mothers son of them was after tickets on Miss Sain and got them as fast as they could be handed out until the machines we locked Whenever lockedWhenever the money is in in mntuel betting there will always be somebody around to take a shot at It Pat Millett got a better price against John K McMillan the dny he was nosed out by Harting by betting his money as soon as the machines were opened than hu would have received by waiting He bought sixty tickets on his horse right off the reel There was a hot tin on John E McMillan and there were a lot of people who thought Harting had better than an outside chance The result was that Millett switched these people off his horse and sent them all to Ilarting and they won his money
