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MAES CAEGIDY ONE OF THE MOST SKILLFUL STARTERS OF THE PRESENT TIME T1IH initial experience of some of the presentday starters was with the socalled starting ate now in general use but it was not that way with Mars Cassidy lie began sending tinin away years before that notable day at the lugleside track San Francisco wlien anil where for the first time in this country the Australian start in device was used II J Dick Huvcy did the starting on that occasion and two other famous starters Calihvell and Ferguson viewed the working of the new iliethod with keen personal interest They were notably ex crt starters with the Hag Riul it was as a starter with tho llag that Cassidv did his lirst work In dispatching fields at fair in Maryland and Virginia having there plenty of schooling that stood him in good stead when called to larger fields of oper ¬ ation He was born in Maryland in 1S2 while th Civil War was in progress and it Is related that his father who was a wounded soldier and at Imme on furlough when the famous startw of the future was born was inspired by tho dread stress of the time to give his little new son his warlike tirst name nameAir Air Cassidy lirst engagement on an an ¬ themed race track was in 18 at Alexander Island on the Virginia side of the Potamac in the vicinity of Washington lie accepted it with doubt and trepidation but made good from the outset From that modest bo ginning ht progressed until in time he suc ¬ ceeded Christopher 1 FitzgeraM as starter on the great Jockey Club tracks of New York a posit ion that carried with It the presumption of being the foremost starter in the ITnited States His transition from the use of the starting ting to the devices now in use was easy of accomplishment and he is credited with being the first of the starters to adopt the use of the walkinguptothebarrier system lint It might be said that he was not the first walk up starter by any means The walkup starter of alt time was Jimmy Sheridan who a long finis ago oiHirated on the eastern tracks and at Washington Pjirk in this city Sheridan took the horses o far back for a leisurely walk up to the starting point that it Jed to tho Western Turf Congress artoiftlni a rule proiumcilig sulrtrts tioffi Tairni Tairniyards yards Before that it was net nncouiinon to see him marching the horses and their unruly siders to a sixteenth of a mile or mom back of the place of starting then march them back again and repeat the process until he was satisfied to flash his flag through the air and semi the Held away on its brief way To his credit be It said that his starts were excellent but usually long delayed and certainly wearing on the nerves and patience of the spectators One of the best features of the present start ¬ ing barrier if its elTecJiveufsr in doing away with long delays at the post Now a delay of live min ntes is considered excessive while before the adoption of the new method a start effected in that space of time would have been deemed unusually prompt When Boundless won the American Derby In the AVorUls Fair year more than 700CO patient spectators whiled away the time as best they could while the horses engaged in that great Si0000 race were at the post for an hour and thirtyeight minutes l efore starter Iettingill managed to send them away on their momentous journey Itow ever that was an exceptional case the great value of the race and the tremendous throng present to view it ftiaking the jockeys so excited and nervous as to render them uncontrolable The prize i package longdelayed start of the old days of the Hag occurred at Saratoga August 1 1885 when starter Wheatley kept fourteen fillies in the Spinaway Stakes at the post for nearly two hours and a half desiredIn For a delay at the post that is the record and in its way left nothing to IK desired In Kngland the starter has the right under the rules of racing to fine riders up to the limit of 50 f l misconduct while at tho post but has no power to suspend or otherwise punish them and must at once report lines to the stewards In this country the starter lias practically unlimited power to both suspend and line jockeys and some of them have been almost fncciless at times in dispensing punishment But Mars Cassidy does not lM long to this class Of his methods in this respect it was written several years ago All the jockeys riding in the east today have to thank Mr Caswldy for enabling them to collect their salaries in full without deductions on account of lines Instead of iKIng disciplined in that manner boys are set down Mr Cassidy Is authority for the statement that fines amounted to from 15000 to 20000 a year when he lirst relieved Chris Fitzgerald while now not a single boy is lined Mr Cassidy believes the boys are more afraid of being set down than of being lined When a bov was lined in the old days the line did not always come out of the boys pocket but those who benelitted by his carelessness usually footed the bill In this connection Mr Cassidy himself said 1 always have a talk with the l vs at the beginning of a meeting and tell them plainly that If they are not satisfied with my intention of giving eacli boy an equal break that they will bo set down if they try to prejudice me The consequence is that the boys are afraid to take a chance chanceIn In comparison with the ways of other starters Cassidys methods of dealing with the riders re donud to his credit but it would probably bo better for all concerned if the powers of our starters in a punitive way were restricted to the much slighter limits of the English rules The riders fear the jiides and stewards much more than they do their familiar enemy and friend the starter and in practice it would probably be found that a threat to report them to the powers higher up would prove more effective than fine or suspension by the starter However that may be there is no question about Mars Cassidy being one of the best if not the best of the starters of the present time The fact that he is already engaged to do the starting over the Kentucky tracks this year will prevent his assisting In the renewal of racing over the New York tracks probably In a way a matter of justifiable sentimental regret to him j
