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SOME NOTABLE TIPSTERS IN ENGLAND William Ogdcn Conceded to Be tho First Reigned Supreme About Year 1797 A selection of tipsters advertising relating to the Derby extending over the last sixty or seventy years would form a curious chapter When the rac ¬ ing tipster came into existence in England it wonld be hard to tell but certainly not until bookmakers became fairly plentiful plentifulFor For a great number of years in order to be able to back n horse to win any considerable stake on an English race it was necessary that it should be op jwsed by some other animal with a strong follow ¬ ing But as racing became rather professional than amateur a class of men sprang up who were ready to lay odds against any horse winning winningThey They did this not from any prejudice against the animal itself but from the experience that the field often contained the best horse So to the great con ¬ venience of sportsmen the better round or leg as he was originally termed came Into existence William Ogdcn the Newmarket Oracle Avliich nickname suggests that he was also a tip ¬ ster is generally considered to have been the first bookmaker proper and he would appear to have been at the zenith of his fame about the year 1797 1797At At the beginning of the nineteenth century Cloves and Robinson were a pair of nencilers 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 himself conspicuous a head and shoulders above his associates in laying the odds The latter may be taken to have been the prototype of Davies the Leviathan whose name perhaps was better known to the public of his time than that of any other bookmaker before or since Davies is credited with the invention of betting lists which first en ¬ abled the man in the street to back his fancy fancyTipsters Tipsters have always made a good harvest out of the Derby localise it is the popular race of the year and because many persons bet on it who never Jwt fin any other race One of the earliest Derby tips of which we have any record concerns the vent of 1801 It will be remembered the first Derby was won by Sir Charles Bunburys Diomed that horses supreme effort for he accomplished little or nothing afterward and in eighteen years time was sold for fifty guineas to go to America AmericaBut But before Diomed left England he had a daughter Giantess which in turn had a daughter named Eleanor and she in 1801 created a record by being the first filly to win both the Derby and Oaks a feat that was not equalled until 1857 whea Blink Ronuy achieved like renown renownTradition Tradition relate that Cox Sir Charles Bunburys old training groom foretold Eleanors victories under dramatic circumstances Two months before the Epsom meeting of 1801 he was seized with fatal illness and his family of friends together with a parson assembled around his bed Something was seen to lie on the dying irons mind mindHe He was given a glass of cordial and thereupon by a tremendous effort he delivered himself of a prophecy couched in stable AngloSaxon concerning Eleanors 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 eventPALMIEST PALMIEST DATS IN 1884 1884The 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 training tables illegal and to take their place bet ¬ ting lists were instituted Serie street Strand iind Long Acre soon became full of these establish ¬ ments and here it was that the bookmaker first nnlly tasted blood and the general public began in acquire a love of betting its mysteries and its chances chancesThen Then loo 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 by means of clairvoyance there was the governess or ladys maid in a noble family who had obtained a grand turf secret by eavesdropping 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 hoiisvs were abolished by Cockburns act passed in 1853 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 ¬ paper 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 doggerel most of them wrote theirs have been the most startling and best authenticated forecasts forecastsIn In 1837 Aates Harrison of the Morning Adver ¬ tiser foretold the victory of an outsider Phos ¬ phorus which started at 40 to 1 and was dead lame on the eve of the race This prediction is consid ¬ ered 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 mouths before the race In which they finished in that order orderRhyming Rhyming tipsters enjoyed their greatest vogue in the GOs The most famous of them were Rhyming Richard who has been identified as a clerk named Lindsay and Orange Blossom the pseudonym of the late Henry Smurthwaite As early as January IStJO Rhyming Richard prophecied the victory of Thormanby for that years Derby as follows followsFates Fates perfect Mirror have I seen byAnd 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 1801 Rhyming Richard nearly repeated his feat 1 of the previous year On January 5 when 20 to 1 was being laid against the colt he plumped for the winner in the following now cryptic lines linesConfusion Confusion to the lips unswect The fawning lips that breed em emI I stand aloof and boldly beat A kettledrum for freedom freedomThe The Derby of 18G2 which brought out an immense field was won by a rank outsider Caractacus against which odds of 50 to 1 were offered Never ¬ theless a lot of small punters were on for al ¬ though Rhyming Richards long poem in Bell ended by plumping for the favorite Neptuuus it contained lines of warning that Caractacus might effect a ShapeSets Caractacus whose wondrous Shape Sets every country mouth agape And agapeAnd if of the outsiders there thereOne One horse should pass the winning chair chairEnfolded Enfolded in the successful three threeBe Be sure Caructacus Is he heThe The Gazette poets and there grew to be a host of them of the next few years proved to be dire failures failuresAfter After the sixties the great craze for rhyming tips seems to have evaporated but the rhyming tipster lias never quite stopped work In more modcru times another Caractacuslike coup was brought off by John TrewUay in the following lines which ap ¬ peared in the Sportsman on Derby day 1892 1892Surprise Surprise of surprises A great shout arises Proclaiming abroad that the contest is done That AVisdOms chef doevre the son of Man ¬ oeuvre oeuvreLord Lord Bradfords Sir Hugo the Derby has won Sir Hugo started at 40 to 1 1Unfortunately Unfortunately Mr TrewIIay did not follow up his initial success so well as Rhyming Richard the tipster poet laureate of the preceding generation In 1893 he gave Dame President a 20 to 1 chance which finished absolutely last In 1894 his choice rested with another outsider Reminder at 33 to 1 which ran third the odds against him for a place being 4 to 1 In 1895 his selection was the un ¬ placed Laveno In 1890 however lie plumped for Galtee More on which odds of 4 to 1 were laid while in the following year in selecting Persimmon he succeeded in giving an astonishingly accurate forecast of the incidents of the race and of the scene of boundless enthusiasm whicli followed the royal victory London Sporting I4fe
