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PARIMUTUEL VS BOOKING ODDS Kentucky Owners and Breeders Issue a Statement Through Tom McDowell The liorse owners and breeders of Kentucky have x stopped into the limelight as far as racing in that state is concerned iys the Cincinnati Enquirer Wirh Tom McDowell as their leader the interested ones got together and prepared n statement of the way things looked to them and also put them on record on the betting question The statement is as follows The fact that the Latonia Jockey Club has de nidod to continue the parimutuel system of betting In accordance with the expressed desire of the State Racing Commission has not in any manner lessened the opposition to the machines by the bookmakers and professional betting men To the disinterested onlooker the arguments pro and con of the adherents and opponents of the maelunes are intensely interest ¬ ing Each side accuses the other of misreprcsenta lion of facts and of a desire to mislead the public Meanwhile the public are taking a hand In the dispute to the extent that they are beginning to think for themselves The continued use of the ma ¬ chines to the end of the meeting will be the fairest as well as the most rigorous test they have ever had in this country and the verdict of ithe public when the present session of racing here is over with will be pretty nearly a final one oneThose Those who have advocated the machines in the belief that their employment will make for the good of racing have little doubt as to what that verdict will be As a matter of fact the discussion had begun to lag and the public was in the humor to accept the machines as an established fact when new vitality was injected into it through the refusal of the Commission to permit the restoration of the books although agreeing to a reduction in the value of the purses It looks as though the meeting will go on now in the even tenor of Its way Oppo ¬ sition to the newold system will continue but In the estimation of many the machines will silently but forcjbly boVibeir own best champions championsTha Tha public Is gradually becoming impressed with the fact that the average of odds returned through the machines Is better than formerly when the books were In operation This at once puts a quietus on tUc contention that the more you bet the more emu cut your own price and that you never know what price yon are going to get Of coursej It requires onsiderablfr figuring up of the totals fofels ered by the machines to form any approximate idca as to just alxrnt what any certain horse will pay In fact it is practically impossible to do so and this will continue to be an undesirable feature of the mutiicls until some satisfactory totalizer is jnit in operation So far the club has been experiment ¬ ing with a totalizer of local design which it is nov claimed will fill the 1111 and Avlll be put into use shortly shortlyAs As to the proposition that every ticket you liny decreases in the promt ion the value of that ticket that cuts no figure whatever when the fact remains that the average of odds is higher than in the books that is the straight odds while on favorites the machines return straight and show prices that would lie impossible in the books One of many instances will serve to illustrate this point clearly In the Brewers Exchange Handicap last Saturday the McDowell entry paid a trifle over even money to win 3 investments returning 10 0 better than even money place 5 investments returning 11 and nearly even money to show tickets paying 050 With slates up the entry would have been at about 3 to 5 to win with probably some little 1 to 4 place and out to show showThis This is not an exceptional instance by any means On the same day Sir Huou paid in like proportion straight place and show and any single days re ¬ sults will prove this statement as to the relative winning results of the books and machines to be correct correctThat That the absence of the bookmakers their em ¬ ployes and the big players is felt In many ways cannot be denied It is equally true that the sport under the present plan lacks much of the noise bustle hurrah and excitement that It formerly pos ¬ sessed Formerly when a man went racing his in ¬ terest was largely held In the betting ring H wanted to see how the money was going and what the big fellows were doing When he finally made up his mind as to a probable winner be liked to scramble around In an effort to beat the price He could wait until the horses were half way to the post and then hustle into the betting ring and get his wager down The old guard make much of the point also that when the books were on owners were wont if they knew you well to give you Information when they had winning chances but under the mutuel system where every wager recorded means a lessening of the price they are not so much inclined to put their friends onto the good things that occasionally go through throughThe The sporting people about town the cafes res ¬ taurants theaters etc complain that the absence of the bookmakers and big players affects their business as undoubtedly it does In truth witn the absence of the genuine sporting element both the race tracks and the town siwrtlng resorts have taken on a decidedly somber and quiet tone They are almost as placid and decorous as a church war ¬ dens meeting Advocates of the inulucl machine get back of the opposition with the1 assertion that In the present condition of the turf the state of things complained of Is just what racing needs It needs to liave less of the pyrotechnics of the game Haunted in the public eye than formerly formerlyIf If the mutuel plan of betting lias any special advantage over bookmaking It Is in the conserva ¬ tion of turf interests herein seated Accustomed to years of speculation with the slates the majority of nicegoers would no doubt prefer to continue to bet In the old familiar way But It appears to be pretty clearly evident after two months experi ¬ ence with the machines here and at Louisville that the public will very shortly become so accustomed to the mutuels that they will bet as freely in the machines as they would in the books If the mutuels will practically eliminate the former unsavory talk of fraud that was scattered broadcast and that often developed into scandals that aroused the most vio ¬ lent action on the part of reformers and again in a measure restore the sport of kings to its old time estate when it was a gentlemans game it will have accomplished much muchMeanwhile Meanwhile arguments one way or the other are fruitless So far as the Latonia Jockey Club is concerned it is a case of a condition not a theory The Racing Commission is authorized by law Two years ago last spring that law was sustained by the United States District court sitting in Cincinnati More recently during the past spring the Kentucky State Court of Appeals decided that mutuel and auction pool betting were both legal on race tracks while meetings were in progress When the Racing Commission refused to let the slates lx put back at Latonia the acting governor of the state issued an announcement in which he stUcd that the power of the state would be Invoked to sustain the Commis ¬ sion if necessary Thus with the Latonia Jockey Club it is siiuply a case of light the Commission with the ultimate prospect of closing all the race trucks in the state end the meeting or go ahead with the cheaper purses and the iniichiiies in opera ¬ tion and get through with the present session of rac ¬ ing with some little balance of profit on the right side of the ledger if it is possible to do so soIn In the opinion of ninny close observers it is IH certainty that the meeting would have improved very greatly even had the books been restored as undoubtedly the hard times have had about as much to do as anything else with the reduced patronage and reduced profits Pertinent to the statement in the foregoing the public is hopomiiifr impressed witli ihe that the average of odds returned through the chines is bettor than formerly when the books in opera inn is ihe big return now and then re by the chnnce purchaser of i i ticket Louis loads Iatonia In the matter of the greatest si return Percy Greens JfCIKJCO May ii being banner ticket so far he paying also f22V10 for tickets At the same track Petulant paid ilraiglit and the greater sum of 70 0 place big tickets and their dates are given below Nancy ticket at Louisville and Lady Ruby Water Lake tickets at Latonia being for plane Long Priced Winners at Louisville Owner OwnerTRWaiuwright Horse Date A nit Odds OddsMay TRWaiuwrightH TRWaiuwright Xanny May 407i0 SIM SIMMay H McCarren Jr JrM Wheat Bread May C 2SOOO il ilMay M Ochsncr Percy Green May i oocco i t tMay J W Ferguson FergusonJ Ilainmotricitl May 18 r2io 701 701May IlainmotricitlElysium J M Goode Elysium May 10 211 SO 421 421May W Grater Etholda May 21 48800 OS1 1 John Marklein W A Leach LeachPetulant May 2 240r 0 4S1 4S1May E A Brennau Petulant May 25 2t 0 041 041May IT T Ireland Ironhfltind May 27 LMttrsu rtl Long Priced Winners at Latonia Owner Horse HorseS Date Amt Odds S K Hughes White Face FaceA June r 20870 CO1 A W Perdu Lady Rubv June 10 420So S51 1 T Morris Crawford Mine 10 20470 411 C V Muller Deacon June 10 4C20 2l SIrsXRDavis Water Lake June 10 IJiaOO 021
