RACING

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 8

RACING

BY "EARLY BIRD." SURE TO WIN THE BOOKIES’ BOOK OPINION OF MISGUIDED CITIZEN'S There are still some misguided citizens who honestly believe that a bookmaker invariably makes his book i to show a profit whatever the result 1 of the race. Even if he could, the Australian Jockey Club has disj covered a way of turning that ideal book into a losing proposition. What happens to the ordinary every day book is disastrous. The Australian Jockey Club created j the havoc by ordering the return of all bets on Valparaiso after that horse had escaped from the saddling paddock and bolted prior to the start of the Warwick Farm Handicap. The order cost the betting ring the best part of £4,000. Two hundred and seventy-five pounds had to be handed back to Valparaiso’s bhckers by one prominent fielder; another passed back £IBO, while there were plenty who returned sums in the neighbourhood of £IOO. A BIG LOSS So with over 100 fielders in the paddock and 100 in the leger, a total return of somelike like £4,000 would be conservative. Valparaiso had been particularly well backed, and naturally the heavy support for him caused better prices to be available about other fancied horses. So when Valparaiso dashed away from his rider, young Arthur Williams, who had just been legged up, and wasn’t balanced, and rushed on to the course proper, attempting to jump the rails, and injuring his near hind leg in the process, punters who had backed him were hoping that the stewards would declare him a non-starter. ALL BETS RETURNED His trainer, G. P. Nailon, spoke to the stewards in reference to being allowed to scratch the horse, and was granted permission, and the stewards ordered all bets to be returned. All of which was perfectly satisfactory to those who had backed Valparaiso. But the bookmakers had an altogether different viewpoint. Nobody expects punters to lose their money in cold blood, but nobody should expect the bookmakers to lose their money in cold blood, either. A bookmaker’s ideal is to hold sufficient money to pay his bets against any horse that wins, with the chance that the success of an outsider will give him most of the money he holds. MAKING A BOOK But the science of making a book isn’t an exact one by any means, and in a non-gambler’s book the favourites take out more money than the fielder is holding. The bookmaker attempts to lay every horse well backed to take out practically the same amount of money, and counts on getting enough out of those backed to give him a moderate liability in proportion to the amount of cash he received from the punters. So the ruinous effect of being ordered to reurn a large part of the money he is holding gives the fielder a particularly risky book. In the circumstances, he has bet false prices about every horse backed. The liability subsequently incurred was added to by the success of the favourite in Valparaiso’s race, Spring Days. MORE EQUITABLE There have been several cases at the horses where bets have been returned in somewhat similar circumstances but a more equitable plan should be devised. The procedurle at the trots or at the ponies of declaring all bets off has its adversaries, who hold it isn’t fair to a stable who has backed a long shot down to a short price in the betting. Naturally, such a procedure at Randwick on a big day would be absurd, but, all the same, the present ] method is quite unfair to the bookmakers. The question of ordering the return of bets is a ticklish one, and a hardand fast rule for every case is probably unattainable, but the stewards might recognise that there are two sides to every argument, and even punters must recognise that the book is entitled to an even break with them. The rule now in operation is all the way of the punter. COMING EVENTS ..?m May 19. 21—Wanganui J.C. June 1,2, 4—Dunedin J.C. ¥2: June 3. 4—Otaki-Maori R.C. June 3. 4, 6 Auckland R.C. June IS—Napier Park R.C. June 22 —Hawke's Bay Hunt Club. June 24, 25—Hawke's Bay J.C. June 25—Oamaru J.C. July 2—Ashsburton County R.C. July 12. 14. 16—Wellington R.C. July 21—Waimate District Hunt Club. July 23—South Canterbury Hunt Club. July 28. 30—Gisborne R.C. July 30—Christchurch Hunt Club.