I am my own clocker. I have slept under horse-blankets for thirty
years. I understand the lingo of horses. Last night, when I was
taking my forty winks in the barn of Commando, I heard him whinny
to Butterfly and tell her to keep out of his way to-day because he
was going to "tin-can" it from start to finish, and if Butterfly
tried to beat him, he would "savage" her. That makes it a cinch
for Commando. Bet the works on him to win.
REAL INSIDE TURF INFORMATION
Maxim & Gay repeated the "Silver Coin" method of advertising only once
during the entire career of the company. This happened in the spring
of 1902, when John Rogers, trainer for William C. Whitney, sent to the
post a mare named Smoke. Our information was that the mare would win,
and our selections for the day named her to win--and she did. Two days
later, she was again entered, against an inferior class of horses, and
the handicap was entirely in her favor. Notwithstanding this, we
inserted an advertisement which appeared in the newspapers on the
morning of the race, reading substantially as follows:
"_Don't bet on Smoke to-day. She will be favorite, but she will
not win. Rockstorm will beat her._"
Sure enough, Smoke opened up favorite in the betting. The betting
commissioners of Mr. Whitney placed large wagers on the horse with the
bookmakers. The bulk of the public's money, however, went on
Rockstorm, and before post time thousands of dollars of the "wise"
money followed suit.
Rockstorm won the race. Smoke led into the stretch, when up went her
tail and she "blew up."
Immediately I was cross-questioned by messengers from the judges'
stand. They asked our reason why we were so positive that Smoke would
lose. Mr. Whitney, I was informed, was actually suspicious that his
mare had been "pulled." The reason for the reversal of form, as I
explained at the time, was this:
William Dozier, our chief clocker at the race-track, who had witnessed
the preparation which Smoke received for the races, was of the opinion
that her training had been rushed too fast, and that her first race,
instead of putting her on edge, had caused a setback. Her first race,
in fact, had "soured" her. Being a veteran horseman, he was positive
that Smoke would lose. I afterwards learned that the training of Smoke
had been left to an understrapper, and that Mr. Rogers himself was not
responsible for her condition.
THE PUBLIC ASKS TO BE MYSTIFIED
The judges were apparently satisfied, but the public could not readily
understand the truth, and we didn't point it out in our
advertisements, because our policy was always to appear as mysterious
as possible as to the source of our information.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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