xt7r222r5k53 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7r222r5k53/data/mets.xml Smith, George E., 1905- 1908  books b98-50-42629565 English Edward W. Cole, : [New York] : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Horse racing.Cole, Edward Wharton, 1860- Racing maxims and methods  / of "Pittsburg Phil" (George E. Smith) : complete system as employed by the most successful speculator in the history of the American turf; condensed wisdom of twenty years' experience on the track from the only personal interviews ever given by the famous horseman, edited by Edward W. Cole. text Racing maxims and methods  / of "Pittsburg Phil" (George E. Smith) : complete system as employed by the most successful speculator in the history of the American turf; condensed wisdom of twenty years' experience on the track from the only personal interviews ever given by the famous horseman, edited by Edward W. Cole. 1908 2002 true xt7r222r5k53 section xt7r222r5k53 














3,000,000 for

         33 Thoroughbreds
Horse, Location and Purchaser.   Price Paid.
1Flying Fox, France, E. Blanc.....  196,875
Val D'Or, Argentine Republic ......  170,000
)rmonde (dead), W. O'B. NIcDonoiglh. 150,000
Diamond Jubilee, Argentine Repu1blic. 150,001
('yllene, England, William Bass ......1 50,000
.Tardy, vLuro, Argentina..         150, ("
Sceptre, England, William Bass ....... 125,000
Rock Sand, America, August Belmont. 125,00J
Duke of Westminster, hngland..      110, 00
Galtee More, German government .... 105,00(
Ard Patrick, German government .... 100,004)
Gouvernant, Hungarian government... 100,000
Kendal, Argentine Republic ..........  90,000
.dam, America, F. C. Bishop ........  75,000
Pietermaritzburg, Argentine Republic. 100,000
!:t. Blaise, America, Charles Reed .... 100,000
Bona Vista, Hungarian government ... 80,000
Hamburg, America, H. P. Whitney ... 70,000
I Mleddler, America, C. H. Mackay.....  75,000
Common, England ...................    75,009
Watercress, America, J. B. Haggin... 71,000
MXlatchbox, Austria ...................  75,000
St. Gatien, America, J. B. Haggin.. .. 70,000
1Donc&ster (dead), England ...........  70,000
Nasturtium, America, W. C. Whitney. 50,000
Carbine, England, Duke of Portland.. 68,000
De Nlund, America, Paul Rainey ......  45,000
r-a Fleche, England, Sir Tatton Sykes. 66,000
W. H. Daniel, America, E. C. Burke.   35,000
Blair Althol (dead), England.....     65,500
Kangaroo (dead), England ............  60,000
Flermis, America, E. R. Thomas......   60,000
King Thomas (yearling), America,
    George Hearst....................  40,000
 Lady Languish  (weanling), America,
    August Belmont .................. 25,000

 
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Racing



Maxims and Methods



of "Pittsburg Phil"

 

























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RACING MAXIMS

and METHODS of

"PITTSBURG PHIL"
[GEORGE    E. SMIT H]




   COMPLETE SYSTEM AS EM-
   PLOYED BY THE MOST
   SUCCESSFUL SPECULATOR
   IN THE HISTORY OF
   THE AMERICAN TURF

   CONDENSED WISDOM of
   TWENTY YEARS' EX-
   PERIENCE on the TRACK

   FROM THE ONLY PERSONAL
   INTERVIEWS EVER GIVEN BY
   THE FAMOUS HORSEMAN





ED ITE D  A N D  PU B LIS H E D  BY
EDWARD      W. COLE
TURF EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK EVENING
        TELEGRAM



I

 






















   DEDICATED TO MR. WALTER KEYS, A LOYAL

AND A VALUED FRIEND OF MR. GEORGE E. SMITH

("PITTSBURG PHIL") DURING MANY YEARS OF

ACTIVE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION AND COMRADESHIP.



Copyright, 1908

Edward W. Cole



PRINTED) BY THE
A.MF RICAN BANK
NOTE COMPANY

 



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             PREFACE
T HROUGHOUT the turf world and
      throughout the world in general,
      there live a great many persons
who believe that the success of George E.
Smith-" Pittsburg Phil"-on the race
track, was due more to a run of good luck
than to the employment of skillful business
methods.
  The writer has seen him make wagers at
the tracks on the Metropolitan Circuit and
win large sums of money. As now and
then the amounts of his winnings became
known, spectators sighed and wondered
why they could not have been so " lucky"
as this clear headed young man hailing
from the busiest city of Pennsylvania.
  It was not luck that won a fortune for
"Pittsburg Phil." It was the application
of one of the shrewdest minds that ever
undertook to make racing a business and
not a gambling uncertainty. There were
times when "Pittsburg Phil" might have
been lucky for a moment, as everybody
engaged in business is lucky at some time
or another, but for the most part the bulk
of his fortune was obtained because he
went about the matter of racing on a
strictly business basis, and gave exactly
as much and similar attention to it as the
prosperous broker or banker gives to his.
                   7

 


                Pretace

  The peculiar value of this little work
is that it contains the only personal
interviews which "Pittsburg Phil" ever
gave to any man in regard to the proper
methods to be applied to cope with
racing and its various emergencies.
  Although hundreds tried to interview
him at one time or another, he refused
absolutely to say anything regarding his
manner of handling his wagers, his channels
of obtaining information, or the system
which he applied to make race speculation
worth as much to him as stock speculation
is worth to the broker.
  To the writer he talked freely. At
various times he entered exhaustively into
the plans which he had made on various
occasions and the methods which he had
used to be successful in his business. He
considered it as much a legitimate business
as trading in cotton or oil. He scouted
the notion that any one could win on the
turf purely by luck, and said that the man
who would be successful should be able
not only to know his horses, but to know
the methods of those who were engaged
in the direct control of the horses. Further
than that he insisted that one must study
the bookmakers and their methods, and
in this volume it is explained how he
managed his affairs so as to win a fortune
                   8

 



of more than 1,700,000, by knowledge of
the subject with which he was dealing.
  George Smith was one of the quietest
men who has ever lived in connection with
American turf affairs. When others would
be inclined to boast of their success, Smith
would shrink from publicity and fairly
run at the sight of a reporter, if he thought
one were come to question him about his
prosperity.
  He began as a cork cutter in Pittsburg.
That life to him was slow and dreary, and
he made up his mind early that he would
get away from it. He had no fixed plan as
to what he would do, but he once remarked
rather dryly, " that he thought he could do
a little better than cutting corks, inasmuch
as he knew how to divide six by two."
He was a man of exemplary habits, very
fond of his immediate relatives, and never
forgetful of a friend.
  His first speculation was in baseball.
At one time there was not a little betting
in Pittsburg on the national game, a
practice which afterward dropped out of
fashion. In any event, at this particular
period, "Pittsburg Phil" gathered some
ready cash and came to the East to study
race track methods.
  He did not begin to speculate on the
turf extensively until he was well posted,
and had become well versed in a great
                   9

 


                 Vrat=

deal of valuable information through ex-
perience.  He began betting with the
proverbial shoestring: then he continued
the business which proved so successful
until within a short time prior to his death.
  The work, to which this is a preface,
tells plainly and simply how "Pittsburg
Phil" managed his affairs to accumulate a
fortune. Some of it is almost in his exact
language, but all of it is authorized and
direct. In its way it is a novel addition to
turf literature, and it is quite probable
that all who are interested in the turf
will find a great many hints which will
be of assistance to them in the future.
Doubtless there will be many who will
perceive that speculation on races is not
so much blind guessing as it is applied
study to the hundred and one details
which are necessary to be successful.
                          THE AUTHOR.



10

 















                Chapter 1.

       [As Told by "Pittsburg Phil "]

What One Must Know to Play the Races.
Success Necessitates Coolness, Deliberation and Strong
    Will Power.
Would-Be Winners Must Stick to One Idea.
Susceptibility to "Tips" an Indication of Weakness.
Habits and Dispositions of Important Horses in Train-
    ing Must Be Known,
Weather, Track and Jockey Favorable to Various
    Thoroughbreds to be Considered.
Bettors Must be Philosophical and Not Become Upset
    by Winning or Losing.
Nothing Must Interfere with the Business of a Speculator
    Who Desires to Succeed.

 
This page in the original text is blank.

 



CHAPTER I.



    WHAT ONE MUST KNOW TO PLAY
              THE RACES.
p LAYING the races appears to be the
      one business in which men believe
      they can succeed without special
study, special talent, or special exertion.
For that reason the bookmakers ride
around in automobiles and eat at Delmon-
ico's, while the majority of the regular
race - goers jokingly congratulate them-
selves lucky if they have the price of a
meal and carfare.
  Why a man, sensible in other things,
holds this idea I have never been able to
satisfy myself.  He knows, and will
acknowledge, that such methods would
mean failure to him as a merchant, or as
a broker, or as a business man in any other
walk of life, but he never seems to apply
that knowledge to racing. It must be
that the quick "action" hypnotizes him,
or the excitement dazzles him, or that he
thinks himself too lucky to lose-I never
could tell exactly which.
  There are many men playing the races,
nowadays, and the majority of them are
losing. Some are winning, however, and
while they are few, they are the characters
thatwe must analyze andwhose methods we
must study if we would succeed as they do.
                  13

 


        ftaxim anb 0letfobs of

  Seldom does one hear anything about
these men until facts are studied below the
surface at the race track. Then you hear
everything about them. They are envied;
they are called lucky; they are said to be
men who always have some unfair advan-
tage in a race. In fact you hear all reports
about them except the truth. I am not
putting the plunger in this class; that is
the man who accumulates a bank roll one
day to lose it the next. He is the comet
of the racing world. He lights up every-
thing one minute and the next minute he
"lights out." Think it over yourself, and
count on your fingers the names of the men
who have made the flashlight bank rolls at
the track. Where are they now Few
can answer. There is no comparison
between them and the good solid specula-
tor who studies and works hard to insure
success.
  Concerning the class that I mentioned
above, the class that includes the men who
quit winners year after year, one seldom
hears of them until able to separate all
the elements that go to make up racing.
They are orderly, decent and quiet. They
go about their business without bluster.
They are calm, no matter how much ex-
citement may be around them, for they
are only there for business. They would
have succeeded, I believe, had they turned
                   14

 


    eorgt  . 9mitb (WittAburg VbW1)

their talents in some other directions than
toward racing, and when you have analyzed
their mental force you will have found men
who are cool, deliberate in action, men of
strong will power and of a philosophical
nature. You will find that all have energy
and the bulldog trait of sticking to one idea.
You will find them exceedingly quick in siz-
ing up a situation and just as quick to take
advantage of it. It does not matter what
their breeding may be, their birth or
training afterwards, if they have these
talents they are almost certain to be men
of success. They have gone a long way
toward winning before ever they began
to bet.
  A man who has not an opinion of his
own and the ability to stick to it in the
face of all kinds of arguments-and argu-
ment includes betting odds in a race-has
not one chance in a million to beat the
races for any length of time. One who is
susceptible to "tips," or what is known as
paddock information, may get along very
well for a while, but I have yet to find one
who has stuck to this line who could show
a bank roll of any dimensions. Men like
Charles Heaney, W. Beverley, "Mattie"
Corbett, "Cad" Irish, "Pack" McKenna,
" Ike" Hakelburg, and others of their class,
all exceedingly successful handicappers,
never think of seeking information as a
                    15

 


         Alaxim; aub jutbob of
basis for their betting. They rely upon
their own judgment entirely and never
form that judgment until after the most
careful consideration. To them paddock
and stable information is only an incident
to confirm their previous judgment. Fre-
quently I have met a half dozen owners
and trainers of horses which have been
entered in the same race and each has told
me that his horse could not lose. I there-
fore had a half dozen "tips" on the same
race, and it was there that my own judg-
ment stood me in good stead.
  Now what do the form players and
successful handicappers know about horses
Well, I might say, incidentally, that they
know the capabilities of every good horse
in training, and have an accurate idea of
what he will do under all circumstances.
They know his habits, and his disposition
as well, and perhaps better than you know
your own brother. They know when he is
at his best and when otherwise. They
know what weather suits him, what track
he likes best, what distance he likes to go,
what weight he likes to carry, and what
kind of a jockey he likes to have on his
back. They know what the jockeys can
do and what they cannot do, and in ad-
dition to that, they are close observers in
the betting ring. If there is anything
wrong it generally shows in the market.
                   16

 


    orgt Ce. ometb (Vittsburg VWI)

  Does not that mean some study Can a
man who regards racing as easy, who
spends only an hour or so looking up the
" dope, " figuring upon horses as they
would on a piece of machinery by time and
weight, know as much as they do It
takes them years of constant close, cool-
headed observation to acquire this knowl-
edge, and at that the returns are often
meager.
  I have said that they know the horses.
By this I do not mean that they know all
the horses racing. The smartest player
does not know every horse that runs any
more than he bets on every race. He pays
attention only to the better class of horses.
The others that win only once or twice a
year, he dismisses from his calculation.
He knows that upon the money lost on bad
horses the bookmaker thrives. But so
soon as one of these horses from the rear
rank shows any consistent form he is added
to the list of representative horses and is
thereafter considered. Being possessed of
an extraordinary memory, I can keep all
the information I need about a horse in my
head. Not all of the men I am speaking of
can do this. I can recall a long passed race
vividly, every detail of it, the weights car-
ried, the distance, the condition of it and
every incident that happened during the
running. Few can do this and they have
                   17

 


         jIIaximo anb oktfjobo of

substituted a system of bookkeeping by
which they accomplish a similar result.
  I have said that a player of the races must
be philosophical. He must not get upset
by a series of winnings any more than by
a succession of losses. The minute a man
loses his balance on the race track he is like
a horse that is trying to run away. He
gets rattled. He throws discretion to the
wind. If he is winning he simply believes
that he cannot lose, and immediately after-
ward gets a bump that may put him out of
business. If he is losing he becomes the
prey of every kind of information and in-
fluence. I have known men who bet
thousands of dollars on a race when in that
state of mind, to play a " tip " given to
them by a boy who sells chewing gum, a
cast off stable boy, or a bartender. It
has been my observation that the best
thing for a man in that condition to do is
to leave the track entirely and take a
vacation amid other scenes. Racing is not
going to stop to-morrow nor next week.
It is going on somewhere in the United
States three hundred and thirteen days
in the year. He can come back and there
will be plenty of money for him to win, if
he can win it.
  One of the important rules of the men
who win at the race track is that they must
have absolute freedom from distraction and
                    18

 


    Otoatc A.& Omt (3ittobUrs Otis)

interference of all, kinds. The successful
race player knows there is a bar and a cafe at
the track, and that there are some very
interesting conversationalists to be met
with every few steps, but he has no time
for either the bar or the funny story tellers.
I may appear to be exceedingly cold
blooded, but for the benefit of my friends,
I must say that a man who wishes to be
successful cannot divide his attention
between horses and women. A man who
accepts the responsibility of escorting a
woman to the race track, and of seeing
that she is comfortably placed and agree-
ably entertained, cannot keep his mind
on his work before him. Between races, a
man has enough to do without replying
to the questions asked by her. This is of
so much importance in my opinion that it
has only been upon very rare occasions,
and then in Saratoga, that I have asked
even my mother to accompany me. Upon
such days the card showed to me that there
was little chance for speculation and I
would, therefore, be free to devote my
time otherwise. A sensible woman under-
stands this and cannot feel hurt at my
words. I do not wish to say that she
should not be permitted to enter the race
track. On the contrary, she is an addition
and an adornment to a beautiful scene,
and she should always be welcome, but if
                   19

 


         ltaxinm   anb Prtbobe of

you are going to make a business of betting,
you must not let a thought for anything
else interfere.
  All consistently successful players of
horses are men of temperate habits in life.
Speculation on the turf, as in all other
kinds of business, requires the best efforts
of its devotees. You cannot sit up all
night, drink heavily, and dissipate other-
wise and expect to win money at the race
track. You could not do it in Wall Street,
and you could not do it running a store, so
why do you expect to do it there I do
not mean that you are not to have any
diversion whatever. Healthful recreation
and relaxation are just as necessary to the
race player as to any other business man.
If a man does not get it, he becomes what
in turf vernacular would be called "brain
sour." If a horse is continually worked
and raced he loses his speed, health and
ambition and has to be freshened with a
rest. He is "track sour" and stale. It is
exactly the same with a man, and he will
realize it, sooner or later.
  I have spoken this way about what
kind of a man I think the successful race
player should be. I have not touched on
the morality of playing the races, because
I do not think it is under discussion. Some
men may say, or think, that racing at-
tended by betting has a harmful influence.
                   20

 


    atorat CE. fimtitj (pittttr Jbj))

I have nothing to say about that. There
must be speculation in every branch of
business, whether it is racing or keeping
a dry goods store. In that respect all
business may be said to have a harmful
effect also. The ethics of the question do
not concern me. Speculating upon racing
was the one thing that I believed I was
best fitted to do, and therefore I did it.
I have no regrets or apologies to offer.



21

 
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               Chapter II.

One Day's Work at the Track.
Entries to be Studied the Night Before and Contenders
    to be Decided Upon.
Work Outs of the Horses to Be Noted.
Form to be Considered in the Paddock.
Needs Careful Study to be Able to Discern Proper
    Conditions
Fretting Horse a Dangerous Betting Proposition.
Betting Ring Must be Inspected to Note "Consensus of
    Bookmakers."
Horses Must be Observed Attentively After Race is
    Finished.
Running of the Contest Must be Carefully Noted.

 
This page in the original text is blank.

 



CHAPTER II.



    ONE DAY S WORK AT THE TRACK
  There is no better way of making
plain what a successful racing man is, than
to tell of his day at the track. What he
does and what he will not do. How he
conducts himself. How he remains al-
ways master of the situation and of him-
self. It seems to me that will be the best
kind of a lesson for the man who would like
to share with him in his general prosperity.
  Preparation for a day at the track begins
the night before, of course, for then the
entries of the day are studied, impossibili-
ties are eliminated, and the contenders are
decided upon. This is succeeded by an
early retirement in a condition that will
guarantee natural rest from the fatigue
of the day at hand. Being of a philosophi-
cal frame of mind, as I have said, the excite-
ment and nervous strain of the incidents
of the previous day are to be dismissed
from the mind, and sleep is to be wooed
without a rival.
  As a result, the racing man should arise
in the morning, cool and clearheaded, and
with the first opening of his eyes he should
again take up the problem of the day. The
horses come before him at once and they
never leave until after the contest is
decided. I think about them the very
                   25

 


         0iaximm anb ttjob of

first thing when I awaken, weighing them
in one light, and from one standpoint and
another. As I dress and eat my breakfast,
I am placing them here and there, giving
each a chance until at last from all stand-
points I decide which one, in a truly and
perfectly run race, devoid of the hundred
or more unlooked for incidents that can
happen, should be the winner.
  In this frame of mind I go to the track.
Once I enter the gate it is all business with
me, and my programme of one day does
not change. I get the names of the jockeys
and the positions of the horses at the post,
if it is a race in which I believe there is a
fair speculative opportunity. I know, of
course, the kind of a day it is, and the con-
dition of the track. I next go up into the
grand stand and watch the horses warming
up. This is of the utmost importance, for
although my mind may be centered on two,
or possibly three horses, at the same time
it is important that I watch the others for
fear there may be an unexpected display
of form in any of them. If I do not see
any of the horses, I had in mind, warm up,
I immediately go to the paddock, after
having my agent bring me the betting
quotations. Arriving there I devote my
time and attention entirely to the con-
tenders, as I have picked them, and to
nothing else.
                   26

 


    Oeorgt 41. mitb (VittburgS Fit)

  It is impossible to overestimate the value
of this ability to tell the condition of a
thoroughbred. It is the twin sister of
handicapping and more important. In
that respect the ordinary form handicapper
is, so to say, handicapped. What may
appear to be right on paper, very, very
often is wrong in the paddock. This ability
to tell whether a horse is at its best before
a race is acquired only after years of the
closest kind of study. The merest tyro
can tell in a race whether a horse is doing
its best, but when it comes to getting a
knowledge of what he can be expected to
do before a race from a blanketed animal
walking about the paddock or standing
in his stall, special knowledge is necessary.
It is not a talent. A man is not born with
it; he must acquire it by hard work and
close observation. He must be able to
decide whether a horse is in good condition
or not, whether he appears to feel like
running a race or otherwise.
  If a horse looks dull in the eye, dry, or
moves and acts sluggishly, it is to me al-
most a sure sign in the majority of cases
that he is not at his best. I say a majority
of cases, because there are exceptions to
every rule and some of the best horses we
have ever bred had no more animation
apparently than a " night hawk " cab horse
before a contest. Some of these horses need
                   27

 


         faxim  anub Aktbobo of

only a warm up gallop on the way to the
post to get out of their dull condition. You
often see a jockey ride at top speed after the
parade in front of the grand stand, to the
starting judge, and you may usually
depend upon it that it is for livening pur-
poses. Frequently trainers want to deceive
the public as to the condition of the horse,
by having it appear dull and of little account
in the paddock. This helps in the betting,
and after all it is not an unfair strategy,
because to them it is just as important to
win a bet as it is to you and me. It is
here that your knowledge of the disposition
of a horse will stand you in good stead. If
you have studied him properly you will
know whether he needs the usual warm up,
a preliminary gallop of a quarter of a mile,
or a sprint of an eighth, or again simply a
jog to the post.
  An inspection of the horses in the pad-
dock pays me for another reason. It tells
of the nervous condition of a horse. Nerves
are as important to a horse in training as to
a person engaged in any physical contest.
Poor nerves are indicated by "fretting,"
and a horse that frets is a very dangerous
betting proposition. I can illustrate this
by one particular instance in which a horse
showed to me distinctly that he would not
be able to repeat the high class race of a
short time before. This was a horse called
                   28

 




Pulsus. In my calculations I became
convinced that all other things being favor-
able he would have an excellent chance
to win.
  Pulsus did not warm up for the race I
have in mind, so I went into the paddock
to see him. I was surprised at his appear-
ance. He was as nervous as a horse could
possibly be. He had "broken out," so that
the perspiration was literally running off his
skin in a stream. My eye told me that he
had lost at least one hundred pounds in
weight since his last race, and was certainly
not within twenty-five pounds of his pre-
vious form, simply through nervous strain
in his stall and the excitement in the pad-
dock. Pulsus was one of the favorites that
day. I forget just what price they were
taking, but I know that it was less than
two to one. I made up my mind that I
would not play him straight, or place, at
a thousand to one, so I looked elsewhere
for the winner, and I instructed a hook-
maker to lay against Pulsus for me straight
and place for a considerable sum of money.
The result was a fair winning as Pulsus was
nowhere. His energy and stamina gone, he
finished back in the nick.
  Now having inspected the three horses,
or whatever number I have in mind. as
possible contenders, I discover perhaps that
one or two of them, in my opinion, are not
                   29



OtorSt (E. ibmitb ANtubura VW)

 


1iUaximo Anb  ettbobo of



in the most promising condition to run a
winning race. The scene of my operations
shifts immediately from the paddock to the
betting ring. I find there that the favorite
is one of the horses whose looks did not
impress me in the paddock and it is here
that the first exercise of will power begins.
There is something about a favorite that
seems to sway players to bet upon him.
Their own judgment in many cases tells
them that the horse in question is in a
false position, but they become afraid of
themselves. A majority of players will
fancy that particular horse, and the individ-
ual will begin to wonder if his judgment is
right. Just as the evening newspapers
publish a consensus of the opinions of the
newspaper handicappers, so the prices in
the ring is publishing the consensus of the
best handicappers at the track. It takes
a strong man to disregard this, but I have
always done so without any hesitation.
  No matter what the class, the previous
performances, or the prestige of the horse
which has been played into favoritism,
or the stable to which it belongs, or of the
jockey that is to ride, or of the money bet
upon it, I look elsewhere for the winner if he
does not suit me. Mechanically I take up
the second choice and subject it to as severe
a handicapping test as was the winner, and
if the second choice fails to come up to the
                    30

 


6beorge e. Omitb (Vittoburg S3tff)



standard I pass it by just as willingly as I
did the first. Prices and public opinion
have absolutely no influence upon me at
this time. I have gone down a list of
entries until I have reached a horse that
was possibly a rank outsider in the opinion
of experts. Upon that horse I pin my
faith and upon that horse I bet my money
if other circumstances justify me. Men
have often wondered how I could play a
third or fourth choice in the race. It was
simply because my judgment commanded
me to do it. I may have been wrong, but
after the race I knew why I was wrong.
It was costly knowledge, but it was not
useless, because it would serve me some
other day.
  The race is run, let us say. The shouts
of the winners and the groans of the losers
die away. From the grand stand there
comes a rush of men on their way to the
betting ring. Some to cash their wagers
and others to make wagers on the next race.
The horses which have been the object of
all their hopes a minute before, are for-
gotten by the multitude. They are pulled
up on the back stretch, turn and canter
back to the stewards, the jockeys dismount
by permission and the animals are turned
over to their handlers with no more than a
little perfunctory applause from the grand
stand. I say the multitude has forgotten,
                   31

 


         0Aims anub    ttjobl of

the multitude generally, but there are some
men at the track to whom this period is
of the utmost importance. You will see
these men along the rail close to the judges'
stand, or up in the big stand with their eyes
glued to their field glasses. I have heard
the uninformed say, when observing this:
"That man is still running the race." It
is not necessary to reply to such remarks
for time is too precious. I want to know
how a horse pulls up after a race, how the
effort has affected him, whether he won
easily without calling upon his reserve
power, or whether he was distressed and
all out. Many a time one horse has beaten
another by a length or two, but with an
expenditure of effort that told, while the
beaten horse was not palpably distressed.
It will take considerable time for the winner
to recover from his effort. The second horse
will be improved by the race. The physical
make up of horses has much to do with this.
There are some light barreled horses, mares
particularly, which feel the effects of a
race more than others. Suppose such a
mare were entered in a race two or three
days later, against practically the same
field, being convinced that the strain had
told I might bet, other conditions being
favorable, on the horse that ran second, or
even third. When I have won after such
procedure, I have been accused by some
                   32

 


    etorpt e. mittj (Vittoburg bil)

of having what they term "an ace in the
hole;" that is, they have accused me of
having had jockeys pull a horse in one race
to make a killing in the next, when it is
nothing in the world but my close obser-
vation after the previous race had been run.
  During the running of the race my
glasses never leave the horses engaged. I
see every move they make. I can see that
this one is not in his stride, or is running
unnaturally, or is being ridden poorly. I
can see if a horse is sulking, what horse is
fit, what horse is unfit. After the race is
run, it is sometimes said a horse has had a
bad ride, or that the trainer has sent him
to t