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NOTABLE TIPSTERS IN ENGLAND A selection of tipsters advertisements relating to he Derby extending over the last sixty or seventy iirs would form a curious chapter When the rac iif lipster came into existence in England it would IK hard to tell but certainly not until bookmakers In Tnie fairly plentiful plentifulFor For a great number of years in order to be able o hack a horse to win any considerable stake oil an lnglish race it was necessary that it should be op Kiscd by some other animal with a strong follow ng But as racing became rather professional than jiiiiiiteiir a class of men sprang up Who were ready to lay the odds against any horse winning winningThev Thev did tills not from any prejudice against the animal itself but from the experience that the field iiflcn contained the best horse So to the great con vtnieiice of sportsmen the bettor round or leg as he was originally termed came into existence William Ogden the Newmarket Oracle which nick ¬ name suggests that he was also a tipster is gener ¬ ally considered to have been the first bookmaker moper and be would appear to have been at the nith of his fame about the year 177 177At At the beginning of the nineteenth century Cloves nnd Robinson were a pair of i cneillers well known all over the Kingdom wherever a race meet ¬ ing was held but the redoubtable Mr Crockford erst dealer in shellfish was the first to make him Mif conspicuous a head and shoulders above his as ¬ sociates in laying the odds The latter may be taken to have been the prototype of Davies the 1eviathan whose name perhaps was better known to the public of his time than that of any other l okniaker before or since Davies is credited witli he invention of betting lists which first enabled Hie man in the street to back his fancy fancyTipsters Tipsters have always made a good harvest out of the Derby because it is the popular race of the year and because many persons bet on it who never bet on any other race One of the earliest Derby tips ot which we have any record concerns the event of 1S01 It will be remembered the lirst Derby was won by Sir Charles Buuburys Dloraed that horses supremo effort for he accomplished little or nothing afterward and in eighteen years time was sold lor fifty guineas to go to America AmericaBut But before Diomed left England ho had a daugh ¬ ter Giantess which in turn had a daughter uamad Eleanor and she in 1S01 created a record by being the first filly to win both Derby and Oaks a feat that was not equaled until 1S57 when Blink Bonny Achieved like renown renownTradition Tradition relates that Cox Sir Charles Bunburys old training groom foretold Eleanors victories un dor dramatic circumstances Two months before the Epsom meeting of 1S01 he was seized with fatal illness and his family and friends together with a parson assembled round his bed Something was seen to be on the dying mans mind mindHe He was given a glass of cordial and thereupon Iy a tremendous effort he delivered himself of a prophecy couched in stable AngloSaxon concerning ISltainors double crown None of those present at the bedside not forgetting the parson it is said had reason to regret the ensuing Epsom fixture man woman and child were on Eleanor for the double event eventThe The palmiest days of the Derby tipster however were while the betting houses flourished in London In 1SS4 an act was passed making lotteries and gaming tables illegal and to take their place bet ¬ ting lists were instituted Serle street Strand and Long Acre soon became full of these establish ¬ ments and here it was that the bookmaker first really tasted blood and the general public began to acquire a love of betting its mysteries and its chances Then too it was that the advent of the Derby found the newspapers teeming with offers to tip the winner There were people who had dreamed it hy means of clairvoyance there was the governess or ladys maid in a noble family who had obtained a grand turf secret by evesdropping there was the parson who had attended a dying tout and whose object was to benefit the touts destitute family etc etcAll All of these tipsters as a rule were ready to part with the secret for five shillings at the most and no doubt by spreading the whole field over the applicants they obtained profit somewhere Betting houses were alwlishcd by Cockburns act passed In ISiIJ At the last moment a fruitless attempt was made to add a clause to this statute by which tip ¬ sters could be prosecuted together with the news ¬ papers which inserted their advertisements advertisementsDerby Derby tips in verse began about the time of the accession of Queen Victoria and notwithstanding the difficulties of rhyming tipsters and the doggewl most of them wrote theirs have been the most start ¬ ling and best authenticated forecasts forecastsIn In 1S7 Vates Harison of the Morning Advertiser foretold the victory of an outsider Phosphorus vrliich started at 40 to 1 and was dead lame on the eve of the race This prediction is considered one of the most remarkable on record although a still stranger one was when Intrepid a rank outsider was placed first and St Lawrence second months be ¬ fore the race in which they finished in that order orderRhyming Rhyming tipsters enjoyed their greatest vogue in tho GOs The most famous of them were Rhyming Richard who has been identified as a clerk nauipd Lindsav and Orange Blossom the pseudonym of the late Henrv Smiirthwaite As early as January 1SCO Rhyming Richard prophesied the victory of Thcr manby for that years Derby as follows followsFates Fates perfect Mirror have I seen seenThe The best you ever saw man by And I have spelt a name therein And spelt it into Thormanby ThormanbyThe The betting against the horse was then about 10 to 1 1In In 1S61 Rhyming Richard nearly repeated his font of the previous year On January C when 20 to 1 was being laid against the colt he plumped for tie winner in the following now cryptic lines linesConfusion Confusion to the lips unsweet The fawning lips that breed em I stand aloof and boldly beat A kettledrum for freedom freedomTho Tho Derby of 18C2 which brought out an Immense field was won by a rank outsider Caractacus against which odds of f0 to 1 were offered Never ¬ theless a lot of small punters were on for al ¬ though Rhyming Richards long poem In Bell ended endedby by plumping for tho favorite Neptuuus It con tained lines of warning that Caractacus might effect effecta a surprise surpriseCaractacus shapeSets Caractacus whose wondrous shape Sets every country month agape And agapeAnd if of the outsiders there thereOne One horse should pass the winning chair chairEnfolded Enfolded in the successful three threeBo Bo sure Caractacus is he heThe The Gazette poets and there grew to be a host of them of the next few years proved dire failures failuresAfter After the sixties the great craze for rhyming tips seems to have evaporated but tho rhyming tipster has never quite stopped work In more modern limes another Caractacuslike coup was brought off by John TrewHay in the following lines which ap ¬ peared in the Sportsman on Derby Day 1S92 1S92Surprise Surprise of Surprises A great shout arises arisesProclaiming Proclaiming abroad that the contest is done doneThat That Wisdoms chef doeuvre the son of Man ¬ oeuvre oeuvreLord Lord Bradfords Sir Hugo the Derby has won wonSir Sir Hugo started at 40 to I IUnfortunately Unfortunately Mr TrewHay did not follow np his initial success so well as Rhyming Richard tho tipster poet laureate of the preceding generation In ISK he gave Dame President a 20 to 1 chance which finished absolutely last In 1S94 his choice rested with another outsider Reminder at T5 to 1 which ran third the odds against him for a place being 4 to 1 In 1S05 his selection was the unplaced Lavcno In 1SOC however he plumped for Galtee More on which odds of 4 to 1 were laid while in the following year in selecting Persimmon he suc ¬ ceeded in giving an astonishingly accurate fore ¬ cast of the incidents of the race and of the scene of boundless enthusiasm which followed the royal victory
