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SOME MENS LUCK WITH BETS. Winning Tins on the Races Handed Out Under Unusual Circumstances — Revenge Scheme Fails. "Fate plays sonic funny planks." said the old sport in an armchair at the Hoffman House one evening recently, "but I never saw it illustrated bettor than in the late 70s when 1 was doing the western racing circuits with a couple of smart trotters, a naniUl horse of more than ordinary quality and a siinon pure thoroughbred that could run heats at a mile, two miles or even four miles if there was liK.ni y in light. "We had been through Michigan and had won Minn- prettj good bets on one at our trotters and when we camped at Cleveland we thought that Ohio would Ik- as kind us .Michigan, as our horses were all ready and they were better than they had shown at Detroit and Jackson. Among the tirst nu n we met in Cleveland was a friend of John 1. Rockefellers who was smooth enough for flash companion any track when it came to getting the money. "He was one of those who had been persuaded that there would be dividends in the petroleum busi ness. and all the money he made in the livery stable game he put into the enterprise Rockefeller and his Mucin*! had just formed. He had a few pretty good hones at his stable in town anil he conducted at the track a boarding kitchen, where a majority of tin help employed by the various trainers were fed. We hadnt known him more than twenty-lour hours before ho was urging my partner and myself to crane nround and drive some of his horses whenever we wanted to go to Clenvillo. " Theyre simply eating their heads off, and it costs money to hire men to exercise them, was the way he put it. "So we drov? them the two weeks we were there. We won some races and the stalde keeper was in on everything we had. When it came time to pack up and depart for Buffalo and the east we were handed a bill that made us sit up and take notice. We had been charged more than the usual fee every time we drove one of the horses, and if wo had fed our men downtown at one of the fashionable places we couldnt have been set back much more. I was particularly hot under the collar and tallied the bill to the old fellow. " How ahlMt this bill? I demanded. "Why. its all right, isnt it: was his reply after scanning it through his glasses first and then scrutinizing me over the top of them. "I gulped down my wrath, but then and there made a mental vow to square things sooner or later. ■Well, Buffalo panned, and we skinned over to Saratoga to take part in an engagement in which our thoroughbred was entered. There was an old trotting horse acquaintance of mine who hunted mo up ■asp after my arrival and eagerly sought my opinion of the races. I was playing mighty lucky, and a few days afterward when a particularly good thing at long odds had won my acquaintance remarked: " Old Tom must tie a pretty good winner on all the good things Ive sent him since you oame to town. " Old Tom. What old Tom? I asked, smelling a mouse at once, for my man was from Cleveland also. " "Why. Old Tom remarked the trotting horse driver. "It was my dear old friend the livery man, all right, and 1 had hard work to keep from laughing in his face. It was so easy to see what was going to happen to Old Tom. I thought that the fates were very kind to me the very next day when my acquaintance wild he had to go up the state lor a collide of days and would I send a few good things to Cleveland in his name: "Would IV 1 would be delighted and I set my plans to make Old Tom squirm. There was a heat race on for the next day and when the entries came out I began operations. "There was a cipher code that would suit any requirements and I doped out the information that there was going to be something doing in this event and that I would wire him bets that night. On pajier it looked like a cinch for a real smart horse called Mecca, but I boat ten oclock 1 wired my man that the race had been tixed for Big Sandy and for him to put down a chunk of money on that horse. Karly next morning I made it stronger, and just before the horses wont to the post I shot another v tip to him saying that it was as good as In. "Well. Mecca won the hist heat in a walk, and having started a redhot favorite the odds shortened up for fair. Old Tom was in the poolroom at Cleveland and he wired ine anxiously saying that the race looked queer to him considering my information. I sent another hot line saying never to stop, and what do you think happened ! Nothing but this: Mecca broke down and Big Sandy won the heat in n tr« t. as our Knglish cousins would say. "He won the next heat, too. and I was mad enough to bile a nail in two. Hen was my man delivered into my hands with the conditions made to order, and in steps fate and upsets my game! "hat men are Inirn to have money, and old Tom was one of them. I gave up trying to square accounts with him after that. To this day my trot ting borne acquaintances regard my picking of Big Handy as the crowning effort of my tipping career, old Tom is dead long since and perhaps the other men will learn the truth some time." "That reminds mo of something that happened to Dave Pulsifer at aid Monmouth Iark twenty years ago." remarked a listener. "There was an awful bore who annoyed INilsifer. "Dave was having a big run of luck al out that time, winning race after race with Kapine. Crimahli and other horses in his stable. These horses were much lwtter than people generally snppeaed and they were rdden by an unfashionable jockey named Coodale. "lliis follow- Im speaking about met Dave one day through a friend and for a long time he bothered him very much. Kvery day found the Imre waiting to have his card marked, and finally Inlsifer determined to stop the nuisance. Accordingly hi put a cross opposite the name of a filly named Lackawanna and told the man that she could not lose mill t play her to the limit. "In the race in question Inlsifer ! et n couple of thousand on the favorite and he was talking with his trainer. Donovan, at the conclusion of the race when he was almost knocked down by the bare, whoso bauds ueiv full of winning tickets on I.ickawanna. whose number was being hoisted on the winning hoard. " "Oh, thank you. thank you. Mr. Pulsifer. I got mm to 1 and Ive won $ », I00 on your tip. he gasped. "Inlsifer was having his customary dry smoke, and he almost swallowed the cigar, but he finally managed to say something ahead lieing damned if lie ever saw such luck. I guess that was another cape of fate." "The liest hunch in the world." broke in another listener, "is when you want ta call a bet off and the laver refuses to shift it to another horse. Thats the time you want to go the limit on your original horse, far hi nine out of ten instances the horse you bei on originally wins. "Its a sign of weakness when anybody can come along with a story of fast work or feed baa information ami shift vou. Ive seen it work out more times than 1 can tell. Of course there are exceptions ta the rule, such as a horse being lame or coughing or something like that, but in the main your lirst choice Is right. When Mr. Layer gels a grouch ami idocsnt want to take It off. pass on to the next lcllo, where your credit is good and paste him one on the eve for luck." "The way to beat the races, in my opinion." commented a quiet-looking man who had paid close at nation to all that had been said, "is to employ the laetios of the wife of a f lie ad of mine. She goes to the races but seldom, just often enough to keep U| her interest in the game, and she always says that the combination of horses, music and the crowd was what won bee allegiance, though, of course, the aest of winning an occasional wager was not a detriment by any means. "Ill never forget her lirst wager. It was In the •*jMs ami I had a position at the track that paid me well. One day as 1 was preparing to leave for the course By wife handed me a twenty-dollar bill, waving that our friend had left If mat morning with instructions to put it on a horse called Halved in tln Lawn view Handicap that afternoon at llraves «nd. "I laughed at this, for Harved bad only got out of the maiden class the week before and his oppe-lielits in the L.iwuview were two such splendid performers a- Richmond, owned by the Dwyers. and Favor, from the barn of Oreea B. Morris. I wanted my wife to keep the money and return It. but she demurred and I took it and started for the track. "The commission was aliout forgotten and I was coming out of the pa. I. lock when Charlie Seed, the philosopher of the turf, happened along. I told the old gentleman of the twenty dollars and remarked that It would l o a lot of fun to hand it back to her tin next day. Taking mo by the arm the old man raid gravely: " Souny. if somebody gives you money to bei on a bay ox beating the best thoroughbred in the world put the money on the bay ox. I started for the lint. on the run and found °,o to 1 and Sol gave mo a ticket reading .20f» to 0 Harved. There were but three starters. .McLaughlin on Richmond. Fitzp.it-riek on Favor and a midget named Osier on Halved. It was conceded that the race would be good and very close, ati Richmond and Favor, both four year-olds. Mere very evenly matched and they bad the best rbler« in America at that time on their beck*. "When Caldwell dropped the flag Fitz and Jimmy rode knee to knee, watching each other intently. Fitz had waiting orders and McLaughlin refused to make pace. Osier accordingly shot to the front with the featherweighted Harved. and going up the bseWstretoh he was a dozen lengths in the load. The others realized at the end of the stretch that the leader wasnt coining back appreciably and they set nail. "it was a breakneck pace around the upper turn pad through the btretcb, and Favor Mopped first. Richmond, tinder the lash, wore down Hnrvods lead Inch by inch, but the distance to bo overcome was ton great and Harved won by a neck amidst the wildest excitement. "The blunder on the part of the crack jockeys had made the outsider win. 1 was in a daze and a cold chill ran up and down my spine when I realized the close call I had had. The soundness of Charlie Kcids advice came home to me with convincing force as I tucked away ,230 in my trousers packet. "That evening when the lady ami her husband called and 1 had counted her winnings into her lap, I said: " Now that its all over, tell us how you doped it out. " Why. I dreamed that ho won. I heard shouting, saw the populace much excited and distinctly heard the cry •Harved. or as I thought. "Harvard wins. but BpOB looking at the entries I saw that the horses name was Harved. Thats all. "—New York Sun.
