Long Shot

Chicago bookmakers were annoyed last fortnight by the mysteriously accurate racing tips of a "Mr. Sullivan." Last week they were further perturbed when Linden Tree, who had been regarded as a 1 t03 favorite in a two-year-old race at Agua Caliente/-, won at the surprisingly long mutuel odds of 9 to i.

The odds at mutuel tracks are mechanically determined by the varying amounts of money which bettors place on the various horses in a race. Bookmakers are bound to pay their clients at mutuel odds, which are theoretically a fair expression of opinion. But the mutuel odds on Linden Tree did not seem to be a fair expression of opinion. How this came about was explained by Baron Long, hotelman, racehorse owner and part owner of Agua Caliente Corp.:

"For years I have observed the bookmakers of the country sending money to the tracks, apparently for the purpose of cutting the prices of the horses their clients had bet on. ... I got to wondering what would happen if conditions were reversed.

"I bet $1,000 to win on Linden Tree with an Eastern Commissioner. As the horses were going to the post, I asked the manager of the mutuel department if it was too late to make a bet. He replied 'No,' and I handed him $3,500 and a list of bets made up of every horse in the race except Linden Tree.

"The net result was to win $9,700 and lose $3,500, a ... profit of $6,200, I ought not to be telling this, but the howl of anguish which rolled in made the story too good to keep."

Chicago bookmakers, who stood to lose an estimated $40,000, were relieved when they received despatches from the General News Bureau, which supplies general news to U. S. bookmakers: "After a careful investigation, it has been found that trickery was resorted to in the first race at Agua Caliente. . . . We advise our clients to pay off at 1 to 3."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.