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367
The Turf and its Tipsters.
On the night of Sunday, April
9th, there passed away an old
man who for many years has
been a familiar figure on most
racecourses, especially those in
the north. There are few habitues
of racing grounds who have not
seen the banner inscribed ** Old
Jack Dickinson," or seen that
worthy make a slow, if somewhat
triumphal, progress over the un-
enclosed parts of the course,
selling his tips broadcast. For
years Old Jack had made an
excellent living out of tipping
winners, and he was himself a
living example of the fallacy of
trying to diagnose the future, for
whether he backed his own tips
or those of somebody else, the
fact remains that, in spite of his
large gains, he was a very heavy
loser. He ran through three or
four " competencies," and could
never manage to retain the money
which poured into his pocket on
the occasion of the great meeting.
Not less than ;^2oo or ;^300 came
to him at meetings like Doncaster,
and then, when he was in great
feather, he would buy a low-priced
horse, generally the outcome of a
selling race, but his steeds as a
rule were badly placed, and Mr.
Jack Dickinson's name nevftr
figured among the winning owners.
Jack, in his way, however,
knew a good deal about horses,
he had a marvellously retentive
memory, and could retail nu-
merous anecdotes about races,
the horses which competed for
them, the men who trained them,
and the jockeys who rode them,
and anybody who got hold of Old
Jack out of business hours spent
a by no means unentertaining
time in listening to the old
tipster's reminiscences. He tho-
roughly enjoyed racing, and
VOL. Lxxi. — NO. 471.
would even sometimes, when a
race is what is known as " open,"
forego the pecuniary advantage
of seHing a certain number of
marked cards in order to clamber
into some place where he could
obtain a good view of the contest.
Old Jack Dickinson, however,
though frequently himself un-
successful, was very far removed
from being one of the fraudulent
brotherhood who make a living Buy Vaseretic Online
by selling tips. No matter how
early horses might be out at
exercise. Old Jack was there
before them. He knew book-
form himself thoroughly, and had
his own ideas as to how far public
performances accorded with what
was in the book. He did his best
to gather up all scraps of infor-
mation, and there is not the least
doubt that his tips were based
on some sort of knowledge, in-
efficient though it often was. Old
Jack Dickinson's prices neces-
sarily varied according to the
state of his finances and the
status of the purchaser ; but for a
shilling one would generally
obtain the best that Old Jack
had to sell.
When the racing tipster first
came into existence it were per-
haps hard to tell, but certainly
not until bookmakers became
fairly plentiful, and the general
public had an opportunity of
putting on their pence, shillings
and pounds. Nor was it until the
days of sporting papers that
tipsters greatly came to the front,
for until publicity was given to their
existence by advertisement they
would necessarily have flourished
unseen, since the practical racing
man was not likely to pay for
information which was unques-
tionably inferior to that of which
he was himself possessed.
26
368
BAILY S MAGAZINE.
[Mat
In the fifties, however, we find
the tipster issuing advertisements.
Through the undying columns of
Beirs Life we find John Playfair
informing backers of horses that
he could be communicated with
by letter, and would send full
particulars to anybody who en-
closed a stamped and directed
envelope, while later on the talent
was strenuously recommended to
try ** Fairplay's Long Shots.**
In the comparatively non-racing
neighbourhood of I ps wich — though
one must not forget that at one
time there were Ipswich Races —
there lived a certain Mr. John
Stamford, who professed himself
willing to divulge **the Golden
Secret " gratis, and in putting
forth his advertisement we ob-
serve that from his position in
the sporting world he was always
in possession of the best informa-
tion with respect to the great
events in the Turf market. If
this had been true Mr. Stamford
might have saved himself an
infinity of trouble by acting upon
this, amassing a fortune, and
then retiring, but instead of so
doing he kept advertising and
tipping, though apparently he
never really parted with his
'* Golden Secret."
Perhaps one of the most allur-
ing baits was that cast by a
tipster who placed his gains no
higher than ;^2oo a year. Through
the medium of the Press the
public were informed that a
gentleman who for some years
had realised that income by a
novel system of betting was wil-
ling to impart his secret to a
select number of subscribers.
The system was described as
being simple, safe, and certain,
while it had the additional merit
of entailing neither trouble nor
risk, and could be carried on with
a capital of no more than Four
Pounds. Whatever income this
person may have realised by his
betting, it was certainly greatly
augmented by his gains as a tip-
ster, and he was eventually able
to take a nice house in the
neighbourhood of Brentford,
where he lived in great comfort
and almost luxury, but he ap-
pears to have been one who,
unlike poor old Jack Dicldosffii,
never backed anyone's tips, not
even his own.
Bashi-Bazouk, who won the
Liverpool Cup in 1857, started at
7 to 1, but a tipster of the time
professed to have sent the horse
to all his subscribers when he was