Equine Imposture
On the 16th of this month the 2 p.m. race at Bath was won comfortably by a bay horse. It was entered in the name of Francasal and the starting price was ten to one. - These odds would have been very considerably shorter had not the cable connecting the " blower "—the special telephone line provided for the use of bookmakers—with the race-course at Bath been severed, half an hour before the race, by some agency which might have been, but almost certainly was not, lightning. The odds would have shortened because, on the eve of the race, Very large sums were wagered on Francasal with " Off course " bookmakers, who found themselves unable to lay off the bets with their colleagues at Bath. Estimates of the winnings theoretically due to Francasal's backers vary between one quarter and three quarters of a million pounds. The whole episode was, however, too striking not to arouse suspicion, and for the past week energetic investigations by the police have disclosed a number of colourful clues which strongly suggest that the winner of the 2 o'clock race at Bath was not Francasal but an almost identical bay in the same ownership called Santa Amaro. The enterprising syndicate who organised this coup have, at the time of writing, not been publicly identified, and meanwhile the citizens are thoroughly enjoying their vicarious excursion into a demi-monde hitherto (according to one London newspaper) " hidden by the top-hats and titles, the silk and ermine ' of the racing world. Training plates and racing plates, missing lorries, minute white spots on the withers, ex-colonels in the Pioneer Corps, registration particulars lodged with .Wetherby's, port veterinary surgeons, even a " ringer "—the whole thing might have been designed by Edgar Wallace to brighten up a damp summer now declining into the Silly Season. And since all the potential victims of this ruse are bookmakers, and since it seems unlikely that any of then, will lose a penny, we can enjoy the affair with a clear conscience.
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