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RACING IS HONESTLY CONDUCTED SPORT Conclusions Enforced by an Experiment Carried on by a Great Newspaper The New York Herald a very conservative and highclass newspaper conducted on sanely indepen ¬ dent Hues has been carrying on an experiment since the beginning of the spring meeting at Washington With the season now well advanced conclusions have been reached and in a recent edition the Herald says of the matter matterThat That racing is honestly conducted and that gen ¬ erally speaking thoroughbreds run true to form and bravely contend for victory is well demonstrated by the record made this season by the Herald in giving each day the most probable winner The Heralds selection lias won sixtytwo limes has been second nineteen times third nine times and out of the money twelve times in 102 starts Sev ¬ eral defeats have been accounted for by starters added at the last possible moment and not consid ¬ ered In the original calculations Racing luck is a tangible something considered by the most astute horsemen in planning their turf campaigns Racing luck might make it possible for a selling ipiater to beat a Colin improbable though such a result would J e So It is that the best of calculations go amiss and the man who can guess right forty per cent of the time is regarded sis a marvel The Heralds selections this season have a record of sixtyone i er cent centIn In making an effort to give the most probable winner in each days program thi Herald has given 310 consideration to speculation The odds that would Jie laid by lxx kmakers have not been thought of The one thing that lias bevn carried in mind has l ecn the desire to demonstrate that racing Is a clean and honest sport and that most of the tales of dishonesty on the race tracks are born of imag ¬ ination inationIn In this connection it should be said that the Herald is not a tipping newspaper and this experi ¬ ment has been based on a selection of one race per day the result being convincing to the Herald Hrtw 4 he test came to be inaugurated is thus nar ¬ rated l y it Early in the season before racing began In vash ington a reporter for the Herald in conversation with a gentleman who had been a patron of the turf for a quarter of a century discussed the at ¬ tacks that were then being made upon racing as a sport and explained the plan to show that the best thoroughbreds are even more to be depended uixm to do their best than arc men menI I havent made a wager in four years said the turfman but if the Herald will do the work yon have outlined I will Instruct a commissioner to place a wager of 100 on each selection day by day That will give an added interest In the sport and a practical test to your theories theoriesThat That plan has been followed since the opening day at Benning The llrst two wagers were lost Since Benning there has been no time when the play might not have been abandoned with a prolit A simple wager of 100 has been made on each selection that has appeared in the Herald The books of the commissioner as balanced last Saturday night show a net prolit of 2510 While this record is here given it Is only for the purpose of showing that the connection between the socalled betting ring and the paddock has no existence The best demonstration lies in the fact that sixtytwo out of 102 horses named to win have been first home while only twelve have failed to participate in the prizes prizesThe The Herald then publishes a table giving the name and price of each horse in detail the net re Milts in winning and losing being as follows followsTrack Track Won Lost LostWashington Washington spring meeting 320 Aqueduct spring meeting 5 JO JOJamaica Jamaica spring meeting fl flBelmont Belmont Park spring meeting 1u Gruvesend spring meeting H SlHepshead Bay summer meeting oi oiBrighton Brighton Beach summer meeting 4JS 4JSSaratoga Saratoga meeting to August S 4 Totals SJ717 207 207Net Net proflt 5 uiW uiWTo To those conversant with the real spirit of the run ¬ ning turf the Heralds conclusion will bring no sur ¬ prise because it corresponds with their own knowl ¬ edge But the snort has been so bitterly and un ¬ truthfully assailed that it is refreshing and valuable to lind a great newspaper Investigate it impartially and then tell Its readers the truth about a noble and profitable open air diversion
