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PLENTY OF ACTION AT OAKLAND roiiccriiing the opening of the racing season at Oakland last Saturday the San Francisco Chronicle jn kc tin following comment commentRareKotrs RareKotrs had plenty of opportunity to support tlieir favorites in the letting ring Eleven layers of odds were stationed about the outskirts of the cnrhiMiru and the players made the ring stir with their speculative operations While last season one could only bet orally with a layer and bad there ¬ fore to l e known a stranger at the course Satur ¬ day had little or no trouble registering his wager Each of the fourteen layers was surrounded by five to six stakeholders and all that was necessary to l e done in order to back ones choice was to place Ills money at the osted odds with the stakeholder nil collect the same after the race if it so happened that he was lucky As for the layer he was as ¬ sisted bv several clerks who kept account of the bets secretly No tickets or records were made in the transaction of tho wagers but the betting was carried on almost as easily and briskly as when the bookmakers stood on their boxes with chalk and fudge Carroll Cook counsel for the New Cali ¬ fornia Jockev Club addressed the gathering of play ¬ ers and layers in the betting ring before the first race and announced the conditions under which bet tin would be allowed He emphasized that the stakeholder system of wagering had been proven l nl in the courts but warned the liettors that any oiien betting with the layers with a duly made record of the same would not bo allowed by the Jockey Huh This talk of Judge Cooks seemed wholly tin iHcessarv however as the players were well versed In the svstem of betting and George II Smith the ringniabfer reported that not a complaint was made during the day
