BOOK’S S.O.S.

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 157, 23 September 1927, Page 7

BOOK’S S.O.S.

BACKER'S GREAT BANK ALL UP SEVEN RACES THE FIRST SIX WON! A well authenticated story comes from Brisbane, of the parlous hour or *° a S.P. merchant passed •hrough recently. He had accepted an hSI UP 5 et ’ whlch began with a modest nut was to be continued throughvr the P ro *> ram nie of seven races. »«£: any bo °kmakers nowadays look • nance at even a three-race all-up iitv’ "’.ch may run theiri into a liabiof, nunc!- (is of pounds, but as it >eemed imp -sible that a man could ay av -ay from the course and pick w^ nners - this bookmaker rethe IDs as money' from home. V »en three of the selected horses lad won. the "betting shop" did not orry much, but the manager became “ xlo k Us when the fourth got home. then the 10s had grown to three ngures in pounds, and with a fifth '’rv ,er had r€*ached the thousands. T ”* ri * indeed, the S.O.S. signal went up. Frantic efforts were made to find me punter. A sixth winner, and disaster, stared the bookmaker in the ace. The backer’s bank had grown ast?r than a upas tree, and had got oeyond the stage when the fielder could back the next horse picked to cover his risk. Search parties sought ”1® Punter to persuade him to stop Wl th a fortune in his pocket. He cou d not be found, unfortunately for mm. The last race came. If the cno*en horse had won, the punter would have had to collect £138,000. it lost, and a fortune was dissipated more quickly than the Jubilee Plunger got rid of his money. But the bookmaker does not want to live the last nour over again. To mark his gratitude for his narrow escape, he returned the punter his original stake, with an injunction to frame it, and not come tor any more pick-the-card all-up bets.

were not entered for this race, but they were handicapper in the Henderson Handicap, and, taking a line through Royal Damon, who was entered for both, there is riot much difference between Laughing Prince and Darnaris. Royal Damon was a winner at Dannevirke. and was raised 3lb, but the comparison has been made on his original impost. LITTLE BETWEEN THEM Laughing Prince has 8.6, and had Damaris and Thaw been in the same event they would each have received 7.12, for they were both placed ori the same mark in the seven furlong event'. This really makes Damaris out to be 51b better than her stable companion, for she is entitled to claim that poundage by reason of her sex under the weight-for-age scale. Regarded from this viewpoint, there is really only 31b between Laughing Prince and Damaris, and when comparing; the performances of these two at Wanganui recently one is inclined to favour the former. The filly just got home in the Guineas, whereas Laughing Prince was responsible for a dasning effort when he got up in the Eclipse Stakes, to beat a good field pointless. He is one of the solid type, whereas Damaris takes some time to find her feet, and is a notorious “climber." requiring plenty of galloping room. SIGNS OF STAMINA So much for that pair. Thaw comes next on the list, and he is likely to develop into a Derby horse. He takes time to settle down, and he has a splendid finishing run that will make him a nuisance to some of the speedier ones when there is a distance of ground to be covered. Four pounds further down the list comes Paganelli, but whether there is