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ENGLISH BETTING AWAY FROM TRACKS In England an enormous amount of betting on races is done away from tlie track There it is technically known as S 1 betting tlie letters standing for Starting Price The equivalent in substance iu this country is our hand book betting Various devices are resorted to in Eng ¬ land to secure prices better than could be legitimate ¬ ly had at the tracks and the other side is that the layers have their own ways of cutting down the prices to lower figures than the backers had schemed to obtain Some details were thus related by James George in London Sporting Life of March 1 1There There are few phrases in the English language so pregnant with meaning to the follower of racing as the exceedingly brief and simple one with wlilcn tils article deals viz Starting Price It is fraught with an appealing mystery which invests it with an interest beyond the common for nobody lias yet definitely guagcd its possibilities and in connection with its exploitation finality will prob ¬ ably never be reached reachedOriginally Originally it had a simple meaning it was the method by which the enforced absentee from tne race course might still indulge iu the practice of backing his fancy There are hundreds of thousands of enterprising and enthusiastic punters still pursuing the elusive winner li this means every day and their numbers increase with the passage of the years but for the greater part they are merely peons in the great game and so far as the bookmakers are concerned they are a negligible quantity Their assaults are readily repulsed but it is vastly different when the select body known as the jon merchants are opposed opposedFor For Starting Price has outgrown its original intention and this method of betting is now resorted to by certain stables as a means to getting a better price to their money than if it were invested at the post These are worthy foes indeed for the mana ¬ gers are invariably brainy and sometimes not too scrupulous in their tactics It is in vain that this bookmaker intrenches himself behind an apparently impregnable book of rules they will find a way of outwitting him and were they his only custo ¬ mers he might surrender at once and close his otlice otliceThese These people are the personification of patience They wait until thev have a real gambling chance and then lay their plans to get a price As a rule the venue selected for the race is a meeting with a weak market where a small amount appreciably affects it Arrangements for backing their horse have probably been made several days ahead It is a general rule with bookmakers to accept wagers of 25 if the message is coded as handed in five minutes before the set time of the race indeed many of them give their customer up to the time of the race for this amount There are one or two recognized agents who have at their command a large number of wires wiresFor For a consideration of being allowed to par ¬ ticipate modestly in the good thing people will lend these 25 wires and a snllicieiit number of them being collected they are handed over to a trustworthy person for handing in They show a wonderful sagacity in the discovery of outofthv way offices frequently in small grocers or sta ¬ tioners shops where there is an oldfashioned singleneedle instrument and1 where they rarely have to deal with more than two or three wires during the day The messages are duly handed in and coded in accordance jyith the bookmakers rules but there is such a number of them that the operator who is frequently called to attend to customers in the shop cannot possibly get them through for hours and should the race be timed late in the program the bookmaker would probably not receive them until the next day The horse is either an unknown quantity or a bad one on the book which would attract nobody without an inspired lead for it and as this of course is nr t forthcoming a liberal price is gener ¬ ally on offer offerOf Of course the horse does not invariably fulfil his part of tlie contract but as a rule be does and when he does it means a lot of work for the Committee of Tattersalls as the bookmakers under a feeling of irritation will refuse to settle until they are ordered One feels a certain amount of sympathy for them when they have to pay over borrowed wires as they always have a rule which forbids their customer to lend his name but as they receive when the horse loses it Is mere equity that they should pay when it wins They naturally ike what steps they can to protect them ¬ selves and generally have someone to represent them at the post who acts at once upon instruc ¬ tion and sees to it that a rumored job horse does not start at a long price But they are not in ¬ frequently iKMitcn and sometimes badly beaten Two big coups wore brought off at Folkestone pretty pleasant innocentlooking Folkestone with a twoyearold called Hard Luck and a jniniier named Hercules II respectively and following that sp Imokinukcrs deleted Folkestone from the list of places at which they did bivjincss But there are still plenty of places to be exploited Bir ¬ mingham of late lias liecome quite inipular and the indefinitelyJust struggle of wits will go on indefinitely Just now the government is unable to give the usual facilities for telegraphing to race courses or from them and this naturally has reduced Hie betting done at starting price very appreciably for bookmakers are at a great disadvantage in being unable to get information quickly from the race course or instructions to it There is still the telephone left however and one gentleman at least has reduced the working of this to a tine art lie can onlv make use of thi where there is a house in the vicinity of the course which can readily be seen with the aid of a good pair of glasses but there are not many places where this accommodation for the phone cannot lie ob ¬ tained tainedHe He works with certain startingprice book ¬ makers anil invests covering money for them at the Kst on horses that are bad for them His method is so simple and at the same time in ¬ genious that I am tempted to give his show away being confident that if necessary he will invent another equally as good There is a wire from the bookmakers otlice in town to his house and he is connected with the phone near the course His agent in hiss London house is always on the alert as tlie time approaches for a race and at once transmits any instructions to the man at the race course end who reconveys them to his principal who is waiting with his glasses on the house in case his serviies are required requiredImmediately Immediately a prearranged signal is acknow Mlged a number is displayoil from the window This corresponds to the number on the card of the horse which Is to be backed Then follows im ¬ mediately the amount of inonev tr lie invested which is conveyed in tlie same way and before one can say Mack Robinson the transaction is com ¬ pleted The whole thing takes an incredibly short time for proof was once given that a sum of 4000 was invested in the ring at a big meeting in the north of England in three and a halt mimitps from the time the instructions were sent out from the starting pvice ollice in London There is no question as to the accuracy of this statement for it was proved to demonstration demonstrationTurning Turning to the personal equation one may accept the rapid growth of betting at starting pric is a testimony to the fairness with which the horses are returned Considering the conditions under which the man entrusted with the task has to work the ground which has to be covered and at many places the poverty of the market be ha to make his deductions friiu it is remarkable not that mistakes are occasionally made but that so few call for correction in the course of a season So long as man remains imperfect and candidly I see no approach to perfection in myself he is prone to err r and at such places as Epsom Ascot Doucaster and Goodwood where the business is diffused over a wide area and where there are di ¬ vergent markets it is quite possible to overlook a half dozen wagers which if seen might have in ¬ fluenced a return returnThanks Thanks to the courtesy of flip Iwokinakers a rourtpsy which I have received and appreciated for many years a reference to tluIr volumes lias always been accorded me md this has invariably been of great service In enabling me to arrive at my conclusions With few exceptions they have givpu me all the assistance in their power ven though the information told against them There is one curious feature in connection with starting price bettiiig which is worthy of mention the large sums which are now invested in this way with bookmakers at the post Where tlie amount does not exceed a few hundreds it is frequently a wise policy on the part of the backer for the bookmaker does not reinvest It but bets up to it and very frequently if unbacked by the general public it fig ¬ ures at a long price Starting price betting may considered unsportsmanlike though that is not my opinion for it tends to keep alive the ccasional race goers interest in the sporj but it his come to stay and if it wore possible to eradicate its obvious defects there would be JUtle to say agaiiist it
