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1 1 | . I t I | : ■ i I I ■ ■ I I I 1 ■, - 1 t ; , » r r i ,. r 1 [ KENTUCKY RACING COMMISSIONS REPORT. | Makes Its First Report to the Legislature and Shows Beneficial Action. Lxington. Ky.. January ti.— The first biennial report of the State Racing Commission to the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky will be submitted to the members of the legislature when that body convenes in Frankfort tomorrow morning by Secretary Arthur B. Rouse. The report is printed and lxmnd and contains 130 pages. It opens with the following address: "The State Racing Commission, as required by the act of 100". and approved by the governor. March 2:1. ISMKi. submits to your honorable ImiiIv its first biennial reiMirt. The enactment of the law creating the commission by the legislature of IBM, is the first step taken by the Commonwealth for the protection of the great thoroughbred horse interests of the I state and for lie control of the race tracks in- I eorporated within its jurisdiction. "At the first meeting of the commission after its organization, which was held on the 2t.d day of Apvjl. lfMHi. the race tracks incorporated within the state hied their applications for license and racing dates. "The New Louisville Jockey Club Churchill Downsi. which bad for thirty-three years held a spring race meeting, was granted racing dates to conform to their advertised program for twenty-four days, to extend from the second day of May to the twenty-nimh day of .May. inclusive. The Latonia Jockey Club was granted thirty-one days racing, to extend from the thirtieth day of May to the fourth day of July, inclusive. The Douglas Park Jockey Club, which had been recently incorporated and its track at the time being remodeled, aud which wotild not have been prepared to conduct a rac ■ meeting had the dates been granted, made an application for thirty-two days racing, to extend from the twelfth day of May to the fifteenth day of June. "The application for said dates was refused by the commission on the grounds that the dates asked for had been previously assigned and thereby preventing a conflict of racing dates within the state, one of Oie primary objects which prompted the legislature to enact the law creating the commission. "Tin- Douglas Park Jockey Club, on the fifteenth day of May. liMKj. filed in the District Court of the Fnited States for the Western District of Kentucky, a suit praying that the commission be enjoined and testing the constitutionality of the act on the ground that it was in violation of the tenth section of the first article of the federal constitution and the fourteenth amendment thereto. The lower court decided adversely to the commission and an appeal was taken to the Fnited States Court of Appeals and said court reversed the decision of the lower court in an opinion delivered by Judge A. M. J. tochran." Then follows the opinion of Judge Cochran in full, and the report continues: "The progress of the commission was impeded during the year of IBM by the filing of said suit, and during the pen dency of the suit certain racing dates were granted to the tracks upon their application, which would have been curtailed had the commission not been enjoined, and during the year a total of 171 days was granted. "At the first meeting of the commission held in 1!M7, as of date February 8. 1907, the following resolution was adopted: That it is the sense of the commission that there was too much racing in Kentucky during the year 1900, and for the best interests of racing the dates should be reduced along certain lines, aud during the year 110 racing dates were granted upon proper application from the tracks. "The fall dates granted the New Louisville Jockey Club from October lt to November 2. were relinquished on account of the position taken by the sheriff of Jefferson County, and the president of the New Louisville Jockey Club requested the commission to transfer said dates to the Latonia Jockey Club, which was done, with the understanding that the program as published by the New Louisville . Jockey Club would be followed, and the number of [ days granted for the year was not increased thereby. "During the years IBM and 1007 the amount of | money as distributed in stakes aud purses to the ; breeders, owners aud trainers of thoroughbreds by • the four tracks licensed by the commission, , amounted in the aggregate to nearly ,000,000." Following this is a display of the amount of money I distributed by tracks and by meetings, and then comes an indorsement of the Kentucky Breeding Bureau, showing the great advantages of that organization, and presutiug the fact that the twenty-• soven stallions in the bureau last spring served l.::25 mares, the majority of which will foal on the farms of their owners next spring, thus at practically no cost to the owners of the mares improving the breed of their stock. Next comes a chapter on the sales, in which it is shown that the Fasig-Tipton Company alone "sold in IBM from the State of Kentucky, thor- otighbred horses amounting to $:;2is:«». and in the year 1!K 7. the sales amounted to 33,380, making - a total for the two years of . 1100,190. This state- - iuent does not include the private sales made in the ! state, or sal«s made by other companies than the Fasig-Tipton Company, during the past two years. ■ and we feel perfectly justified in saving that the total amount realized from the sale of thoroughbred 1 horses from aud in the State of Keutucky for the years of 1900 and P,H7 would exceed one aud 1 one half million dollars. . Continued on second page. KENTUCKY RACING COMMISSIONS REPORT. Continued from first page. The reftort concludes, after stating the new rules adopted and new rules proposed during the past year, as follows: •The commission submlis that it lias adopted certain rules and regulations and provided safeguards against the occurrence of evils which are generally associated with the turf, and has used every effort to purify racing, resulting in material benefit tt one of the leading interests of our state, and placing the sport upon a higher plane than It ■ lias ever occupied." Following this the rules of th» commission. properly indexed, are printed in full. The report is sigui i by the five commissioners. No recommendation of any character is made in the report sHve this, which appears under the heading "New Bnles Proposed : ""The poolroom has been one of the greatest factors leading toward the demoralization of racing, and is a menace to the sport, and at the last meeting of the commission the following rule was proposed and will be passed aud adopted after thirty days have passed, as required by the laws; -No racing association licensed by this commission shall furnish to poolrooms or their agents I any information whatever in regard to racing, or permit to be furnished from its course any such information. " It is noticeable that the rules proposing the. licensing of i miners and jockeys, and that prohibiting belling at the tracks, are not mentioned In the report, and it is explained by secretary Rouse that jhey weie omitted for the reason that in the first laataaee a license was not necessary because of the . prcamec in the field already of four governing bodies ; in this country, the licenses of which are recognized [ by the commission, and in the second instance, because the rule severing the betting ring from the . control of the associations was faultily drawn.
