A Mirror of the Turf; Or, The Machinery of Horse-Racing Revealed, Showing the Sport of Kings as It Is To-DayBertram, James Glass
History
A Mirror of the Turf; Or, The Machinery of Horse-Racing Revealed, Showing the Sport of Kings as It Is To-Day
Bertram, James Glass
Horse racing -- Great Britain
Remarkable stories have occasionally been told of fortunes won by
means of the Cesarewitch; big prices being obtainable at an early
date, persons who know of a "good thing" for this race are able to
back it to win a considerable sum at little risk. Mr. Parr, the owner
of Weathergage, who won in 1852, sacked many thousands, it is said, by
the victory of his horse. That animal proved a fortunate purchase to
Mr. Parr. Bought out of a Newmarket stable for a comparatively trifling
sum, and having been well tried with a horse called Clothworker, he
was entered for the Goodwood Stakes. The trial horse having been sold
for £400, that sum was invested in backing Weathergage for the ducal
struggle, which the horse won, and a sum of £16,000 in addition for his
far-seeing owner. Weathergage was then entered for the Cesarewitch, for
which he started first favourite at 4 to 1; but long previous to the
day of the race Mr. Parr had backed him to win a great stake at odds of
50 to 1, by which transaction his owner was said to have won £40,000.
He then sold the horse for £2,500. Lecturer, who won the Cesarewitch
in 1866, was the means of putting about £80,000 in the pocket of the
unfortunate Marquis of Hastings, and a very large stake is reputed to
have been won by Mr. Naylor with Jester, in 1878.
The incidents of the Cesarewitch outside racing circles are not of
very great interest; many of the animals which have proved successful
have never again been heard of as being of any value on the turf. The
distance run is a little over two miles and a quarter, and as the
pace is usually a rapid one, it takes a very good horse to win when
the animal is really weighted according to its merits. As has been
indicated, the race on some occasions falls to a very mediocre horse,
who has been got into the handicap by trickery, at almost a nominal
weight, for the purpose of enabling the owner and his friends to win
a series of big bets. The Cesarewitch does not often result in the
first favourite proving successful, having been often won by horses
which, in a comparative sense, may be called outsiders. The honours of
favouritism are of course determined by the price of the horse in the
betting; if it is at 4 to 1, whilst the others are at such prices as 7,
10, or 14, then the "first" favourite is the horse which is at 4 to 1.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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