DOUBLE EVENT BETTING.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1172, 15 August 1884, Page 3

DOUBLE EVENT BETTING.

The force of folly can hardly go farther ■than in hacking horses for_ any race. This has Keen proved ho many times that it appears only a truism .to writ ■it Ruined homes, and impecunious emigrants to the Australian < lolouit-s, will testify to the truth of out remarks. And yet what do wo lind in these sras ; A perfect “furore" for backing double event*. The off chance come off occasionally, and _ straightway the supposed fortunate ,man is lauded to the skies as a prophetic seer of the (i st order. The worst ot it is tha ■in .jmany ioasos the backers are tread tug on far more dangerous ground than they imagine. During last week, if we were asked once we were asked a hundred times. “ How do I stand ? I have backed Bordeaux (or Obstacle, at the base may he), coupled with So and so for the New Zealand Cun.” Now, .before a man accents a wager, he should at least know the rudiments of batting rules. If he does not, he has no right to venture within the in* flnenoe of the Ring. At Home it is the invariable rule to back nominations for the Waterloo Cup. not dogs ; hut hero the practice obtains ot backing doss by name, even hefoee the entries have been issned. This is all against the unfortunate backer, thouih the theory that he has a chance to win as well as lose, the vital piinoiple of betting, is accorded in a certain degree. The rules of double event betting are differentia the English a»d Colonial rings. The English betting rules distinctly say (No 16) —“If a dead heat be the first of a double hot, the bet is void, unless one horse received a moiety, which would constitute him a winner in a double event." This would, ot course, apply equally to any division of stakes wnether between horses, dogs, and man. In No. 16 of the Victorian rules, however, it is provided that “if the dead heat be the first of a double event bet, Ihe bet shall bo divided in the same manner as in a single event." The Obriatohurch Tattersali’s have accepted the Vioiorian rules, and so we presume that all double event bets, in which the Waterloo Cup figures, stand. But the question is. what would be the fairest way for the backer and layer of a double event to square matte: sif the hot is to stand ? If it were bn a single event, the rule is clear—the stakes would bo put together and divided. But this should not apply to a double event, as supposing LSO to LI laid. On the first event, a dead heat or division takes place ; this clearly puts tie taker ot oids into the position of having at least “half a leg in.” Then come the other race, and lot us sup pose that his selection justifies his choice by winning. Well, how avo the stakes to be divided! Clearly it should nob be on the principle of the backer receiving L 25 10s as the half of the LSI, for he has won one and a-balf out of the two events. In fact he nas won three halves out of four, and he thoald, in all fairness, if the hoc stands, receive in ibis proportion, t hat is to say, out of LSI, he should bo entitled to receive L3S as, or deducting his own stake, L 37 ss. Against this it would be urged by the booki make s with some show of reason, that they may have laid b >th dogs who ,divided the Waterloo Cup, in different wagers with the N .Z. Lup winner, and that therefore they would bo compelled to disburse L 74 10s for each LIOO laid, but even then we con. tend they have all the best of she betting. (hen again '.here is a bare possibility of a combination more puzzling than this occurring, and we have searched in vain for any rule by which in the event of its happening we could be guided. Let us just imagine that f-illowitig on <ho dead heat tor the Waterloo Cup, a dead heat" also occurs for tho New Z -aland Cup, and the stakes'are divided equally. A lias backed Bordeaux and one dead heater in tho New j Zealand Cup ; B has backed Obstacle and j the other. What proportion of their wagers should hr paid to each of tbc fortunata individuals who had speculated in this manner ? Would the bookmakers insist on putting tho money together and dividing it by four ? To be consistent they must if they are only going to nay halt over theirbets already recorded again it Bordeaux or Obstacle, and say, the winner of the New Zealand Cup. In fact, if tho backer is only to ho paid half his weger when he has won one and a-half out of a possible two, he could not expect to be paid the same stun when he has only won two half events. If the one division is right it appears to ns that the oilier must be wrong, though we are decidedly of opinion that if a man has backed two consecutive dead-heaters in a double, ha should be entitle 1 to the full half of the total amount wagerod. In this a'e of progress rules appertaining to any class of sport are not regarded as-the laws of theJMedes and Persians, and arc being altered daily, even in the case of such a conservative game as cricket. New complications never dreamt of by the oiiginal framers crop up. and steps ore of necessity taken tomee- them in fairness and equity, and betting rules are by no means more perfect thin many other sots of regulations. Tho contradictory decisions given by the administrators of betting laws on parallel cases havo f>fteu been the subject of wonder and annoyance .o those most interested, but it appears impossible up to the present time for tho collective wisdom of turfites to furnish us with a simple .and efficient c.-do which shall meet tho demands of every case.

It is a curious circumstance that, with retrard to two such events as the Waterloo Cup and Derby in the Old Country, there has been only one instance of division in each case. In 1859 Mr Jardiue divided the former event with his two dogs Selby and Clive, and this year the owners of St. Gatien and Harvester, running for iho Derby, agreed to halve toe stakes. Too only other instances in important, or ciassicil events that we can call to mind was when Camellia ran a dea 1 hpat with Enjiucrrando for the Oaks, bur. the latter subsequently walked over. I'hn same tiling happened when Moslem and Formosa ran a dead heat for the Two Thousand Guineas, and the latter w.alke I over. Let ns hope there will ho no more divisions for the New Zealand Waterloo Cup. —Canterbury Times.

Catarrh of tug Gladder.—Stinging irritation, inffammitiou, all Kidney and i->milar Complaints, oared by “ KuchuPiiuu." The N.Z. C ».,G.moral Agents.

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