OUTSIDER SCORES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21970, 23 May 1941, Page 4

OUTSIDER SCORES

Lucky Investors The “ Might-have-beens ” (Contributed.) Amusing stories were heard yester- - day and they are the more amusing, because they are probably just variations ot so many heard on the racecourse at Washdyke on Saturday after Airline had won the big race and had returned the biggest dividend posted for some time. In some way conversation had drifted round to the races, and I had remarked “don’t talk to me about horses.” when a woman in the group said: “A friend of mine who is visiting Timaru received a letter from her husband telling her to put £1 each way on Aiiiine. He thought the letter would arrive on Saturday, but it was not delivered until Monday.” I am not saying that the story is not true, but it struck me as being very funny, and as just one more instarce of that streak of vanity which is part of the human make-up. The Airline stories which have been going the rounds since Saturday are legion, and if it were possible to check up on the many people who were known to have had tickets on the horse, then the dividend would probably have been showing even money on the yellow tape instead of the nice price at which the machine closed. Figures Do Not Lie To refer to just a few, said one person. “Henry had £lO on Airline, and he backed it both ways.” The same story was told me by three different persons, and each named a different investor. Maybe their source of information was other than the Ministry of Information, because there were actually only 47 10/- tickets invested for a win. Had the investments been for a place only, the story would have been credible, for exactly 100 persons gave the horse a chance, and they were well repaid for their assumption. Then there was the evergreen that a man and his friend had backed Airline every start in the last few months, and as he had done no good at Timaru three weeks ago, nor at Ashburton, nor on the first day, they had got tired of sending good money after bad, and had let the horse go on Saturday. The telling of the story relieved their feelings. Perhaps some of the ‘Tittle boys who help the horses round the courses sometimes,” and who were not engaged in the big event, had a feeling that there might be a “boil-over,” and had induced some of their friends to have an Interest in the black horse. It seemed that way from the excited manner in which one of them rode the winner from the grandstand and exhorted “Andy” to “give ’er the gun.’ Did Superstition Pay? Mention of “Andy” calls to mind another side of the picture, that of people who back horses because they dream of them, or because of their looks, or because of some incident which might have appealed to their superstitious instincts. Little “Andy had ridden a horse into third place at Ashburton, but in his hurry to prepare for the next event had forgotten to weigh in, and the backers of the placed horse were left lamenting when the horse was disqualified. The incident occurred to one or two people I know as a good omen, and they declared their intention of being “on” Andy on each of his starts. If they were lucky, but these “I’ve got a feeling’ investments usually benefit someone Yet another reason advanced by some lucky Investors at the meeting was that they conceived the idea of paving tribute to the Royal Air Force by backing horses with names in any way resembling aeroplanes or the activities of the Air Force. Those who did this scored nicely on Gold Flight on the first day, and on the second day joined the throng of Airline backers, and later struck it rich on Secret Flight. But these persons were few compared with the hundreds who backed first day winners or favourites and went home with less than they had started out.