HANDICAPS.
At every recurring race for the Chester Cup the decadence which has overtaken that celebrated event is usually adverted to by the sporting writers of the period, its past glories being at the same time painted by regretful pens. But times change, and though the competitors at Chester have dwindled from thirty and forty to less than a dozen, let it not be forgotten that other contests have arisen of greater interest, although the races which are popular to-day are not those which were popular thirty-five or forty years since. Handicaps which in times past were thought "great" are now looked upon as "small," and are being displaced in the Calendar by more important events.
Space need not be occupied in even briefly narrating the history of our handicaps; two of them, however, may be referred to in order to indicate the fluctuating fashions of the turf: these are the races for the Tradesmen's Plate at Chester, or "Chester Cup" as it is familiarly called, and the Great Metropolitan Stakes, run at Epsom Spring Meeting, both of which look almost at death's door when viewed in the light of their early history. It is curious, however, to note that what seems to be most regretted in connection with these races is the falling off in the betting; that is not a fiftieth part of what it used to be—hence the regrets. To ensure good racing a field of forty horses is not requisite, either at Chester or anywhere else; excellent sport may result when not a fourth of that number may be running. It is different as regards the betting element. A very large entry and a good acceptance promotes speculation, and when the field of horses competing is a big one, the odds ought of course to be good and betting brisk. But at the present time, when a week seldom elapses without the decision of a big race of some kind, betting such as took place on the Chester Cup thirty years since need not be looked for.
It was in the year 1824 the race for the Chester Cup was instituted, and in the course of a few seasons it blossomed into an event of importance, so far as regards the betting of which it was made the medium. Speculation on the Cup commenced at one time before Christmas, and horses could be and were backed to win large amounts before New Year's Day. A favourite form of betting was in "sweepstakes," which were numerous and of large amount. Horses were kept specially to be "readied" for the Cup, and from the day on which it was won by King Cole to that year in which Tim Whiffler proved successful (1838 to 1862), there were big entries, large fields, and lots of gambling. Stories are frequently retailed as to how such and such a winner of the Chester Cup was "managed" and how much was bagged over his success.
Turfites are living to-day who love to dwell on the early days of the Rood Dee, and who describe the winter betting over the great race as being really marvellous in amount. At the period referred to the doings of horses in training were not made public in the fashion which now prevails. Bettors long ago were kept ignorant of the condition of the horses, and animals which had no chance to win were backed long before the entries for the race were due. "A hundred to one against anything" was in many instances a common offer for next Cup early in the preceding December, whilst some list-keepers (they were numerous in those days) offered double these odds. Betting went on with great vigour till the fall of the flag, and as large fields were competing for the Cup, there was no lack of a choice of investments. For this popular trophy as many as forty-three horses started in 1852, but now, so greatly has the interest in the race fallen off, there are not usually many more horses in the list of entries.
In former days a horse entered for the Chester Cup might easily have been backed to win in one hand from £30,000 to £50,000 at a fair price in the way of odds. At the present time if a horse were backed to win £10,000, it would probably start at something like 5 to 2 on it.
The Great Metropolitan Stakes, run for at Epsom, was at one period a very heavy medium of turf speculation, but is now at a low ebb. For this race about thirty-five years ago there was wont to be from fifteen to twenty-nine runners—a number that admitted of much betting. Handicaps that aforetime were "great" are now small affairs; indeed the new races which have lately been instituted claim popularity in a greater degree, and now more interest is taken by bettors in the Lincolnshire Handicap than in the so-called "great" races. As a medium of betting the race run at Lincoln affords an opportunity to all classes, there being usually a numerous entry and a fairly large field of competing horses. Several other large betting races, such as the City and Suburban, the handicaps at the Leicester Meetings, and the Manchester Cup in the first half of the year, provide plenty of work for the bookmakers, and relieve bettors of superfluous funds; no wonder, therefore, that many of the old mediums of speculation are being "knocked out of time." As betting races the short-distance handicaps carry the day. The Ascot Stakes even, and the Goodwood Stakes as well—both at one time of importance—have fallen from their former estimate, and no longer attract the attention of the great body of betting men.
The Cesarewitch, which is without doubt the greatest of our handicaps, may be referred to at some length as a typical handicap. Instituted in 1839, it is among handicaps what the Derby is among so-called "classic" races. The great Newmarket event was named in honour of the Grand Duke of Russia, whose title in the Muscovite tongue is the "Cesarewitch," and who, on the first occasion of its being run, gave a prize of £300 in commemoration of his visit to this country along with his father, the Emperor Nicholas—the founder of the Emperor's Plate at Royal Ascot. It is now over fifty years since the race was first run, on which occasion there were twenty-six subscribers of £25 each, and as ten runners came to the post, the value of the stakes to the winner, including the sum given by the Cesarewitch, was £715. The first winner of the event was Cruiskeen. In course of time the Cesarewitch became the greatest of our English handicaps, over two hundred horses having in some years entered to take part in the struggle. As may be supposed good fields are usually the result of large entries, as many as thirty-seven horses having, in 1862, been sent to the post, and on another anniversary of the race thirty-six tried conclusions.
The Cesarewitch cannot be said to be "famous" for its surroundings; on the contrary, the struggle has often enough been accompanied by an evil odour of finesse and chicanery, consequent on repeated attempts to throw dust in the eyes of the handicapper, or, to state more plainly what is meant, to "cheat" that important functionary. To non-racing people such a statement will doubtless require explanation. All handicaps are more or less a "game of weights," and that may be more particularly affirmed of the Cesarewitch. In such races as the Derby and St. Leger, the horses which contest the prize run on uniform terms, the weights of all being equal, mares being allowed a deduction; but in the Cesarewitch, Cambridgeshire, and similar contests, the horses are all "handicapped," in other words they are allotted to be ridden at weights which will represent their merits, or supposed merits; for, as has been hinted elsewhere, much pains is often taken to hoodwink the person whose duty it is to adjust the weights carried by the competing animals.
The reason why such practices are resorted to is not because the stake which can be won is a valuable one, as the total amount of the Cesarewitch Stakes seldom reaches £2,000, but because the race in question affords a medium of wagering on such a gigantic scale that horses entered for the contest may, with caution, be backed to win even as much as £100,000. There are one or two instances of such a sum having been obtained by means of the Cesarewitch, notably when Roseberry won the race. For the owner of a Cesarewitch to bag from £20,000 to £50,000 was, some twelve or fifteen years since, a matter of common occurrence. It is a race which the general public bet upon with avidity, and for betting upon it great facilities are afforded, seeing that speculation begins on the Cesarewitch as early as May or June, when it cannot possibly be known what horses will be entered for it.
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.
The Cambridgeshire is looked upon as the twin race of the Cesarewitch; both are run at Newmarket within about a fortnight of each other. The distance of the Cambridgeshire course is a little over a mile, so that the race is of the short-cut kind; although to get a mile at the terrific pace which is set in this handicap, takes something serious out of the competing horses. The Cambridgeshire, like the Cesarewitch, was instituted in 1839, and the race is a favourite medium of speculation, large sums being now and then won by a well-planned coup. The first winner of the race was Mr. Ramsay, of Barnton, whose horse, Lanercost, beating eleven others, credited him with the prize. In some years forty horses have run in the Cambridgeshire. It was often prophesied that the same animal would in one year win both races; but the double event was never compassed till 1876, when Roseberry, a horse belonging to Mr. James Smith, the well-known proprietor of the Bon Marché, proved successful, and again in 1881, "the American year," the double event was accomplished by Mr. Keene's horse, Foxhall, an animal that had previously credited his owner with the lucrative Grand Prize of Paris. As year after year passed over, and the double event never came off, it began to be thought that such an occurrence would prove to be an impossibility in consequence of the disparity of the distances over which the horses had to run, and over which of course they required to be trained; but in 1885 the feat was once more accomplished, this time by the French horse, Plaisanterie.
The Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire, as has been stated, are big betting races, more money being wagered over these events in the present day than over any other handicaps of the year. The two find favour in the eyes of double event bettors; the foreign bookmakers in particular laid themselves out to accommodate the betting public to any extent. Two thousand pounds to twenty shillings is the limit fixed for such bets, and every now and then the feat of combining in one bet the names of the winning horses of both events is accomplished. In the year Cardinal York won the one race and Adonis the other the success of several double event bettors was recorded by the press. One gentleman, a stockbroker, was named as being the winner of twelve thousand pounds, the risk he ran in obtaining that sum being nine pounds ten shillings only. As may be supposed, where one is successful thousands fail. A bookmaker doing only a small business informed the writer that of sixteen hundred and seventy-two double event bets which he laid against the chances of naming the two winners, only thirteen persons were successful in coupling the first winner with a horse for the second event, and none of those who tried succeeded in the feat of naming both winners. An Edinburgh bookmaker who at one time accommodated small bettors with double event bets on the same races, never once required to pay, although thousands tried their luck.
Those persons who bet on the results of the race for the Cambridgeshire, when they are so fortunate as to name the winner, occasionally obtain wonderfully good odds. Since 1875 only five favourites have won the race. On the other hand, what are called "long prices" have been laid against horses that have won in recent years, as, for instance, 33 to 1, Jongleur (1877); 40 to 1, Jester (1878); 30 to 1, La Merveille (1879); 50 to 1, Bendigo (1883); and 40 to 1, Gloriation (1887). Several other Cambridgeshire horses might be quoted at 20 to 1, and at figures a little below 20. Such prices do not often attend the race for the Cesarewitch, but then the winner in 1890 started at the odds of 28 to 1; and Stoneclink (1885) was quoted while at the starting-post at 100 to 3—an excellent price, as all who had the good fortune to back the horse willingly acknowledged.
As has been hinted, the Cesarewitch has been notorious for the thousand and one plots that have been laid to obtain a victory; the same may be said of the Cambridgeshire. Many hopes and fears have been centred on the chance of winning one or both of these races. Clever turfites have again and again planned and schemed, only, however, to incur defeat. Honest owners, running on the square with an honestly handicapped horse, have been "done" in the end by the machinations of some syndicate possessed of an animal kept for the purpose.
The Northumberland Plate, still run for at Gosforth Park, the Great Ebor Handicap, and the Liverpool Cups, as also the Cumberland Plate, were all of them some twenty-five years ago favourite betting races. They are no longer, however, what they were; but bettors have the Jubilee Stakes at their service, as also such events as the Royal Hunt Cup, run at Ascot, and the Stewards' Cup, decided at the Goodwood Meeting. These are races on which plenty of speculation takes place, so that the loss of the "great" handicaps is not of much moment, there being so many other outlets for the gambling instinct of the nation, which was never so strong as it now is. The races for the Ascot Stakes and the Goodwood Stakes do not give rise to betting of any consequence till the days set for their decision; nor does speculation, as of old, begin on the Portland Plate, decided at Doncaster, till the names of the runners are known. The big handicaps brought off at Manchester during the Whitsuntide holidays, and at a later period, give rise to an immense amount of betting, especially among the masses.
These handicap notes might be considerably extended. Some of the recently introduced races represent big stakes, ranging from one to six thousand pounds, so that they are worth winning. The race for the City and Suburban has even of late years been improved, and is now worth a thousand pounds to the owner of the winning horse. A glance at any of the turf guides will show that there is almost a plethora of racing; but betting men, be they ever so industrious, cannot go on day after day figuring the odds against everything. Racing fashions are bound to change. It is of little use, therefore, mourning over the decadence of the Chester Cup, or any of the other "great" handicaps of "auld lang syne," when there are so many events which afford better opportunities to the horse and greater scope to those who care nothing for the animal, except as an instrument of gambling.