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STARTING PROBLEM AND JOCKEYS. Report -the Moving Start Will Be Tried at Benning Next Spring. Now York. December 23. There Is an unconfirmed rumor that at the Benning meeting In March next, the moving start, for which there has 1k.oh so much clamor, will be tried again and probably continued. Personally, I doubt the accuracy . of the report and, as the stewards of the Jockey Club are widely scattered at this moment, it is impossible to obtain confirmation of the story. Not Jong ago I spent the better part of an hour at the office of the Brighton Beach Racing Asso-ciafiou and then lnlked with Christopher .1. Fitzgerald, the president of that organization, who. for ten years, officiated as starter, the greater part of wnioh .time lie was at Now Orleans eacli Winter and In New York, under the Jockey Club. Tor eight months n yeaf. He gaive up the onerous poxltion of starter two years ago. lie Is an undeviating upholder of the standing etart anil asserted Hat to attempt to make moving. starts, would lead to all the good jockeys being suspended, for they would be on the move all the time trying to prejudge the starts and hence would be disciplined. This would not be a popular thing, for the race-going public like to bet on good jockeys and though they frequently denounce them lor bad or foul riding, they are given to realize that when it comes down to betting on a horse, much depends on the rider. When Notter and McDanicl left the recent Benning meeting before its close, they were missed greatly. Referring to the well-known fact that in England the standing start prevails and will be maintained by order of the stewards there, Mr. Fitzgerald asserted that the barriers in use on the other side are not up-to-date, inasmuch as smart jockeys can anticipate the movements of the starters because they use levers with which to release the barrier. "When Mr. Fitzgerald was starter lie had an electric button held clasped In his hand and that hand Vas behind his back. Thus no jockey knew the moment the start was to come and the consequence was that his starts were excellent. "I was not always up to my own standard of excellence," he said today. "I had great difficulties to overcome. I will say this for Mr. Bush, of New Orleans he stuck to me loyally at all times "and he resisted strong pressure the first year I was at New Orleans. They got up a round robin to replace me as starter because I punished the jockeys too freely they said. But Mr. Bush would not listen to them and the consequence was that the following year and eacli subsequent season, I had no trouble witli the jockeys." "Naturally, however, yon made enemies as starter?" was asked. "Nothing like as many as since I began .to act as steward," was the answer. "Two years ago word was conveyed to mo that a principal turfman was angry with me because of an investigation which was instituted into the running of a horse at Brighton. Threats were made that the stable would never again race at our track. I sent word back that such news was a great relief to me, for it would save me many anxious moments which would have been devoted to watching the horses in that particular stable." "Do you believe doping is common? was asked. "I fear it is used more frequently than has been detected. It is difficult for some to prove it, but my ten years experience as starter prompts me to assert that when a horse comes prancing up to you transformed from the meek, well-behaved racer which he has been up to that time, into a wild-eyed, frantic, crazy horse, it is reasonably sure that he has been artificially stimulated. I feel satisfied horses were doped last summer In stables which had come under public suspicion, but which thus far have escaped official punishment Sooner or later the Jockey Club readies out and punishes malefactors, however, and if you should hear of certain trainers losing or not receiving their licenses, you can rest assured It Is probably for doping. " Christopher J. Fitzgerald is a shining example of what rewards the turf may have for a shrewd man. The present writer as far back as 1SS9, was sending turf reports to various newspapers, amongst them the Philadelphia Times. The reports were filed at an office in Park Row and the operator who sent them over the wires, was Christopher Fitzgerald. He became turf reporter on the New York Sun, then clerk of the scales at some of the tracks under the old Board of Control, then patrol judge, next starter at New Orleans, thence a Jocky Club starter and now he is president of the Brighton Beach Racing Association at a salary of 0,000 a year. Out of his earnings as starter for ten years ho saved a handsome sum, invested it in a - boot and shoe manufactory in his native town of London. Canada and takes life easily. As steward at Brighton Beacli and Montreal he was given to see and take prompt action and W. Knapp may yet rue that day he rode at Montreal in a race which brought down upon him discipline. J. 3 Burke.
