DEAR SIR--DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. Let me entreat you not to miss
to-morrow's GOLDEN PADDOCK WIRE; it will be honestly worth a £10 note.
My RELATION connected with a certain WELL-KNOWN STABLE says, "Frank,
my boy, get your money on at once; this is another 20 to 1 chance." A
GOLD MINE is before us--miss this and you will miss a pile of GOLD and
silver.
OWNER and TRAINER HAVE planked their money down; both will travel with
the GRAND ANIMAL (the name of which I will forward for 5s.) to-morrow
by special train.
Send a postal order and secure the name of the smartest three-year-old
that ever came under the starters' orders or romped past the judge's
box lengths ahead of all the favourites, winning clients and myself
many HUNDREDS OF POUNDS.
Yet another offers infallible information if clients will merely put a
small portion of their stake on for him. As some of the horses he gives
must win he probably does fairly well. Whilst most of such tipsters are
but sorry guides, some are undoubtedly honest men and try to do their
best for their clients.
Such a one was Old Jack Dickinson, a thoroughly honest sporting
tipster, who will be remembered by all race-goers of some years ago.
This well-known character, who was a fine sprint runner in his day,
bore a quite unblemished reputation, though a backer of horses and a
professional vendor of tips. Old Jack was a regular church-goer in
his own parish, where his death caused genuine sorrow. Though in his
capacity as a Turf tipster he was at times compelled to issue his
circulars on Sunday, this he did not like, and by way of salving his
conscience in the matter he is said to have made a practice of devoting
all the money he received from the Sunday information to church
purposes, it being put into the collection box.
On the Turf, exclusive of betting men, jockeys, and trainers, there
are three classes--men of large fortune, with well and old-established
studs, fixtures as it were; sporting men of moderate fortune, who
confine themselves to four or five horses at a time, and run merely in
their own part of the world; and lastly, men of small or no fortune,
who run for profit more than amusement. It is the conduct of many of
this last class which has at times been injurious to the Turf.
The sporting owner, who has to pay large trainers' bills and meet the
other inevitable charges incident to the sport of which he aspires to
be a pillar, cannot reasonably hope to make a profit on his racing;
even the sharp betting man is in many cases out of pocket at the end of
a year. Expenses, such as travelling, hotel bills, and the like, amount
to a considerable sum, and for this reason every supporter of the Turf
is greatly handicapped before he even makes a bet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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