Seven of Diamonds

Keywords - Upright: placed and paid, the circuit's cut  ·  Inverted: winnings spoken for, backers with terms

Upright

You placed, you earned. The entry fee, the trainer, the equipment all have their hands out. Success with an immediate practical invoice.

You placed - the board says so and the purse is real. It is also spoken for, in the ordinary way of the circuit: the entry fee, the trainer's percentage, the kit that got you here and the lodgings that kept you upright. Prize money is revenue, not profit. The winning still counts. So does the accounting.

Inverted

The people who staked you keep their own ledger, and it is written in different ink. Their cut comes first, their interest is flexible, and their view is that a funded athlete is an investment that keeps paying. The purse is gone before it lands - and the terms of the next stake are already being drafted without you.

In Play

Upright. Garrick takes second at the games; the purse clears his season's debts with a few coins over.

Inverted. The syndicate that staked his training collects at the rope line - and explains that second place means the arrangement continues another year.