THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2402, 15 March 1900, Page 40

THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

Says the Australasian : What remarkable changes have taken place in the Australian ring since Joe Thompson became its leadsr ! It is doubtful if any fortunes are made in bookmaking nowadays, although the backers all seem to lose. Over competition and cash betting' aris probably accountable for tho

falling off. In Mr Thompson's early days there cannot have been more than 20 bookmakers, and what glorious prices they could lay ! We once heard a most respected layer, now dead, tell a friend of how in a -race at Flemington he onc° laid his full book against each of four at 2 to 1, and then a fifth, which was not^backed at all, won. Those were wonderful days, and they will never come again. Fancy the average owners of to-day taking 2 to 1 each about four horses '. Well may Mr Joseph say our horses are not owned as well as they were 30 years ago. Fqr all that, there were some very ugly racing scandals in those clays, and a good deal of talk about hot favourites being got at or stopped by jockeys. We do not hear much of this sort of thing nowadays, although plenty of horses are stopped when not backed by their owners, and some of the owners who do this sort of thing are rich "enough to be above playing such dirty trick?. We forget whether Robert Sutton came along with his cash-betting system before or after the V.R.C.- had decided on registering bookmakers, but we remember that Joe Thompson opposed both innovations tooth and nail. As far as Sutton was concerned, he t was quite helpless, but if the ring had followed, him solidly, he might have given the V.R.C some trouble over_ the re gistration question. This was one of the very few occasions on which the bookmakers rebelled against the dictum of their old leadei. What he promised his faithful followers would happen them has been borne out to a certain extent. The V.R.C. has licensed bookmakers right and left, and the monopoly the old ringmen enjoyed has gone. Prices have probably lengthened as a result of the increased competition, buc there is not nearly so much money to be won from the ring now as when there were only a fourth of the men fielding. This is bad for the owner who wants to bet heavily, but most owners have lost their desire to go for huge stakes, and the great majority would prefer the totalisator and large prizes to dealing with the ring at all. The totalisator", however, they are not likely to get in Victoria for some time, and we are dealing with things as they are. The le.c'k of that ante-post betting we used to have is probably due to over-racing. The average backer has so many races to bet on now that he is content to wait for the course, and' treats Flemington very much as he would a suburban course.