SPOTTING THE WINNER

Hokitika Guardian, 5 September 1924, Page 3

SPOTTING THE WINNER

'me' TitICKSTKHS' MKTIIOIIS

“You will perhaps scarcely believe me,” said a London sporting writer lately, “when I tell you that there are men. who, although they have never seen a race run in their lives, make a comfort.il.de living by “spotting winners” for credulous clients. And yet, I know it to he an absolute tact. “One loan whose acquaintance T made some years ago. and who made several hundreds a year by racing tip-,, actually confessed to me that he hud never seen a racehorse. He was. in fact, a chronic invalid who never left his house except in n hath chair ; anil yet he knew more of the turf than any limn I have ever met. lie had made a life-long study ol it. and had every race-horse and its performances at his lingers’ tips. This until was gifted, too. with remarkable judgment; and although lie had no material I than is accessible to anybody in the daily papers, he spotted more winners than any other two prophets. But lie was at least as holiest as he was successful. and spared no pains to give his customers good value for their money, which is more than can be said ol nuiuv other tipsters who make suhstan tinl incomes more easily than any other tin'll I knii.v.

‘•One of these frauduh'iit pinpln'ts. whom I used to know i usually, con fussed to me in r m.incut of hihuious confidence '.hat his tips never lost bin. more than sixpence a day for information. although in* rarely made less than .Coin a yea: out ef them. His usmil method was siuiplieitv itself. lie took in regularly half-a-dozen daily papers which lie considered most reliable in sporting limiters, then collected their various lips, and gave his clients the b»nclit of the result. For instance, if tliri".' papers gave Ramrod as the piubali* winner of a certain race, while two others nominated Matchbox, he would plump for Ramrod. and, of course, his choice was not infrequently a good one. "But occasionally he departed from this fairly safe method and trusted himself to chance. On one occasion, he told me. lie wrote down the names ol hall a dozen horses he fancied most on separate slips of paper, put the slips into a hat. and drew one. As luck would have it he drew Sir Hugo, and if his clients had. the courage to follow lii-i tip they must have scored heavily, for. as you know. Sir Hugo, who started nt |l> to I. won the Derby. “On another occasion a week before the Derby was run - he dreamed that Jeddah got first na-t the post. Jeddah was the rankest of outsiders, and although my friend had more than once Hoped a winner on the strength ol a dream his courage failed him this time, and to his utter grief and annoyance he ignored him. Jeddah, howevei. won. and at 1(50 to I. tin* longest odds ever known in the Derby. "But at any rate, aillmugh a man is a donkey to put a fee from Is to ds for a tip which In* call obtain in his morning paper, the source ol information is usually sound, and he may get his money’s worth. 'I here are. however. sum:* of the more unprincipled tipsters who do not even take this trouble.

“One mail I know of iinhliisliinpfy tips evorv horse in the rare, so that he cannot fail to find the winner every time. Hi* will tin one horse to clients in a certain town or district, a second to those in another town, and so on until evrrv horse has its following. By confining himself to the same horse for one district he reduces the risk ol Ids tri'-k being discovered. "However disgusted the majority of tin's man's clients may he at the re-

sult. h" is always .-erluiii of an enthusiastic miiiorit v who have draw n tin* w iiiu*'t' in his lottery, and. w ho. w ill sound his praises tar and wide. I hrmii'i works England in sections, advertising largely in Inca! panel's until the district is exhausted, when lie takes another section, until lie has been the round. Then lie begins again under another name and add res-.”