THE RACING WORLD.
The Racing World and its Inhabitants. By Alfred E. T. Watson. (Macmillan and Co. 12s. 6d. net.)—In the able series of papers which Mr. Watson has edited from the Badminton Magazine he gives us—practically for the first time—an informal cyclopaedia of racing. We have little essays on the training, owning, breeding, and riding of racehorses ; and on the work of the race meeting, as it appears to the judge, the starter, and the handicapper; whilst in a sympathetic and well-written introduction Mr. Watson him- self maintains the morality and the advantages of his favourite sport. He assures us that on the whole racing is carried on with honesty and honour on all hands,—though, of course, he recognises the inevitable presence of a few black sheep in a business where we have "on one side a little array of wealthy men, many of whom are practically exuding gold; on the other side a very large array of exceedingly needy persons who have been attracted by the belief that there is something to be gained by a little exercise of wit and cunning." Mr. Watson, while defending racing as a sport, makes the frank recognition of the fact that betting is a very unremunerative pastime, and by no means a certain business even for the professional bookmaker, in spite of all the odds in his favour. Though we cannot altogether agree with Mr. Watson's apologia for racing, and though we hold that betting is a terrible evil among the working class, we admit that in betting the essential evil lies in the excess. Per se, there is no reason why racing should always be connected with gambling, though unfortunately that is almost always the case. The book has some admirable coloured illustrations.
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