Sees Change In Sentiment, Daily Racing Form, 1914-01-17

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SEES CHANGE IN SENTIMENT. J "Time workelli wonders." This is exemplified in everv calling. A few years ago it looked as if thoroughbred racing was doomed lo destruction in America. From the Atlantic to the Pacific a strong current of disapproval set in against it and despite the efforts of its richest, most influential and powerful adherents it seemed that nothing could be done to stem the ontlowing current. So. carried along on the crest of its highest waves, laws prohibiting wagering on races were passed in almost all the stales in Hie Union once noted for the extent and power wielded by the big racing associations. Racing was stopped and race tracks closed. Stock farms were broken up as the royally-bred "children of the winds" were shipped to the big cities and sold at auction. In many instances owners felt it a shame to even give the pedigrees of these horses and sold them as untraced. The iieet-footed animals were picked up by buyers and shipped to farms where the mares were bred to Jacks and the geldings used for saddle and for driving. Dozens of men who owned scores of thoroughbreds for which they -paid hundreds of thousands of dollars were bankrupted and the men who made their living with them had to find new vocations. A large number of these, we regret, to say. deserved just such a fate and for the good of the sport, mirl for their benefit, it was -well that they were thrown on their own resources instead of making a living on the resources of others, and, instead of jiosing as ricli men who had no use for those who were making an honest living unless they brought their hard-earned money over to tiie track and let them handle it for them, they had to work to keep from starving- . , The racing situation lecaine an exceedingly critical one and needed just such the treatment, and as "time workelli wonders" we notice now a desire on the part of a large nmnlier of men to see the sport revived. And while the introduction of the pari-niu-luels or totalisators which lias made racing so lojmlar in France and Australasia may yet give employment to as many men. it will not be the means of creating so many parasites. It is also believed that If this system of wagering was tried fairly it would be adopted and everybody would be . happy. San Francisco Breeder and Sportsman.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1914011701/drf1914011701_1_4
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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800