Martin and Turners Cases, Daily Racing Form, 1899-08-26

article


view raw text

MARTI H AND TURNERS CASES. Thursday the stewards of the Jockey Club revoked the licenses of W. Martin and ordered that the BuepeDsion of N. Turner be indefinitely continued Such stroDg sentences for jockeys of such prominence- must necessarily be based on evidence of serious wrong-doin?, but what the specific charges against them were have not leaked out. A letter from Saratoga to Morning Telegraph of Thursday, say: "The suspension of jockeys Martin and Turner and the ruling off of C W Penniston, jockey Southwood. trainer Ben Pope, jockey M-xley and. trainer Nixon have thrown a good sized scare into the turf world here. , Every, body is wondering what is to c"me next, and the Jockey Club meeting in New York this week is looked forward to with no little apprehension. There is a feeling of unrest among the horsemen, because, while the stewards may have acted on sufficient evidence, and undoubtedly did act on what appeared to them to be sufficient evidecc0, the public is left in the dark, and they, as well as the hoise people, are being wafted hither and thither by all sorts of wild rumors and conjectures. J "In the case of Martin and Turner it is believed that the racing stewards, Messrs. Vos-burgh andNolan, acted upon suggestions from the Jockey Club stewards, four or five of whom were here at the tim?. If bo, it looks rather squally for Martin and Tamer, as the Jockey Club stewards would not countenance each action without good reason. The two riders were suspended for the last week of the nisei in? here. As usual, the matter will, in due couse, go before the Jockey Club, and the probable action of that body is what has kept everybody guessing. "Martin, who was punished on a charge of batting, ia one of the oldest and bet riders in the country Besides being a good jockey, he is a clever horseman, and a man of brains. He has been in tronble on several occasions in both the east and the west. Two years ago he was reinstated to gYod standing in the e.ttt mainly on representations made to Mr. AuguatBelmont, president of the Jockey Club. Mario is wealthy He is reputed to be worth anywhere fr m ce to two hondred thousand dollars. His friends argue that undet thee circumstances he ia too smart to violate the rules of racing. Still, there ia probably only a very small loophole for him, uqIobb he can prove to the stewards that they were misinformed as to his alleged betting operations "The suspension of Turner for suspicious riding was received with very much surprise as a majority of the horsemen were of the opinion that this boy had been riding well of late. At times Turners work in the saddle has caused some comment, but he has ecaped severe punishments. Turner is under engagement to Eugene Leigh I talked with Mr. Leigh ab ut th case today. He intimated that he had no complaint to make of Tamers riding. I have n t had much use of the boy this season, said Mr. Leigh, but have bed no occasion to question bis honesty. If ho has been doing anyttiing wrong in his riding I would like to know it. J "The warnings off in the steeplechase of Monday will go before the National Steeplechase Association for review, instead of the Jockey Club. C. W. Penniston, the owner of the horse, Mr. Dunlap, is a Canadian hailing from Montreal, and the Canadian horsemen racing here speak well of him. Pope, the trainer, is a colored man, an old time, steeplechase rider, while Southwood, Mr. Pennistons jockey, is an Englishman, who rides in England in the winter cross-country season there. On all the apnaront evidence as to the running of Mr. Dunlap a majority of racing people are inclined to the balief that the racing stewards may have bean in error, although these officials claim that the Mr. Dunlap people made overtures to the owners of other horses in the race. Still, granting all that, the ruling in this instanca nteds probing deeper. There is a good deal of jealousy among some of the steeplechase contingent, and it is not impossible that Mr. Penniston may be the innocent victim of an unjust decision. "Nixon, trainer of the horse Populist, got into trouble a conple of years ago over the horse Lion Heart. Jockey Moxley, who was aleo warned off on account of the running of the horse Populist in the same race, is a colored man who tias not ridden much in this section. Mox-leys fall from Pooulist, which occurred near the head of the stretch, was to all appearances a rank piece of business. At this point Populist was running second, and it looked as though he might make a close contest with Mr. B ards Article, who finally won. The horse made no blauder at the jump. He took the obstacle all right, recovered, and went on, and then, all at once, Moxley was seen to roll off with ut any rhyme or reason. If the horae stum -.led or if Moxley was taken with a sudden fit of vertigo, neither of these facta were patent to the spectators. "It is claimed that the game in the race was that everybody should pull to Populist, the favorite, at 11 to 5. At the last moment, so it is alUged, it was found that the plans could not be perfected. There was a bitch. Some, body, brst known probably to the racing stewards, refused to go into the combination. Then the deal was shifted, the money went on Article and Mr Dunlap and Populist, the two most dangerous contenders, were taken care of in the race. "This story, while it may be true in part, has, as a whole, something of the i armarka of a pipe dream. It presupposes that Article was of little account, whereas the Beard horse came right out the fo lowing day, Tuesday, and ran a cracking good race. "Nobody here ia satisfied with the present statue of the steeplechase stir-up. There is no disposition to question .the good inti ntions of the racing stewards, but all the circumstances point to the belief that their action may have been, to some extent, hasty and ill-advised."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1890s/drf1899082601/drf1899082601_1_3
Local Identifier: drf1899082601_1_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800