High Praise for the Pari-Mutuels, Daily Racing Form, 1915-10-10

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HIGH PRAISE FOR THE PARI-MUTUELS. I,.iisville Kv.. October ft. — In an interview Grainger. iWiiUwl • Ihe New I.ouis-Xjsrkrr ■■« lies F Club and the Louisville member of f lie Kentuckv State Ka. -lug C.m.nission. talked I eutertainiuglv a few days ago on racing as * ii. .,:.. -i .Juducfed i" Kentucky. Canada. Maryland and 1 Nevada under the pari liiutuel system r betting. The salvation sa racing in Kentuckv and Canada imi.iiTm. is due to the revival of the pari-mutuel 1 st ". ,f "wagering - " horses. With the exception l • , York ! where the sport has been curtailed I l.i ii. rn 1-iws the turf is in sounder condition i before in the history of running - ever •wl«v than •fci. in this country. There is fairer racing and I -s iTVrter satisfied public, all the result of the change * it. -in i the bookmaking system of betting to that of f Betrweent,th1eii »o there is no comparison The e of the pari- rVSSShl "• •"«• introduction - n-n i?JTfa Kentucky of recent , ears, aside from » vself are M. " «*"» vice president and man .V Louisville Jockcx ili.l. track at I . • i he New uZrSu i"-»- «s "• ■•; ."1!:;,, "TKZ f ii ir.-Hurer of this racing hssocUiIuhi. i ua«l. i?r vions to the installation of this le c « r. advo.-ate ..f .he pari-inutiiel 1 1-t Mng bee«. an leu, as I pUinly aw that it was the only f I * 1 1 l I i - I * f e - » I f le c 1 fair way for the public in betting on horses and • letter in every way for the running turf in general. Tlie law permitting such a form of betting on races has been on the statute books of Kentucky for vears. I was familiar with the system when it prevailed at the Downs track in 1K7n-70-.NO and other vears in the old days, when Professor Droinel was in charge as is Eugene Kirod at the present time. As a result. 1 finally prevailed upon the directors of the New Louisville Jockey Club to return to this svstcm of bettiug and it was the efforts in this "direction of myself and Mess:s. Winn and Applegate. that finally caused the Kentuckv Raring Commission to incorporate their rules to p.-rmit this as the only style of betting allowed on Kentucky race tracks. Indirectly this has led to the svstein being adopted in other states in this country, as well as in the Dominion of Canada. "As a result of these early efforts, the New Loiiisyjii,. .iix-k.-v Club authorized Messrs. Winu Applegate and lnvself to carry out this plan and we went to New York to arrange to get the machines, tickets and other paraphernalia, but failed to scce.re what we wanted there. I then decided that 1 could build the machines in Louisville and with the u-sjsfance of Mr. Winn a machine was built acd improvements made rrom year to year on the same, until n-w the devices in the betting ring at Churchill Downs meets, m everv way. the approval of the racing as well as the general public. "Mr. Winn with the assistance of Charles F. Price and Fic-eu Elrod: formulated and had published the guidance ef the a system of rules for piioli.-. as well as the operators of the pari-mutuel ina.hines. and these rules have been accepted and are in use by all racing associations now operat ing pari -liiutuel machines. "So successful has this form f betting been. Hint purs.s and stakes on the tracks in Kentucky have increased nearlv one hundred in r cent since their installation and. as a result, enstern tnrf-. men come to Kentuckv to race the best horses of their establishments. It also has resulted in such wealthy turfmen establishing breeding farms on a big scale in this state. "The distinguishing feature of liiutuel betting. as compared to bookmaking. is thai in the former svstcm the public establishes the odds. Other features are the absolute fairness of the system and its i,jW percentage. It is the method used in such great lacing countries as France. Australia and Agent ina and has proved a welcome relief from the abuses connected with and growing out of hookmi.kinir It is also n method in which ea.-h backer em inv.-t what he pleases on the horse of bis .hoi,.. There i~ n wax m which ibe.sys tern ,an se .iaimed I •■ ■* ■ lotierv. In pari-inutiiel U-lling .-Very dollar except Ihe percentage to mail: lata the machine* goes b the men xxh.. have pi.-ked he wimiiii" horses Tlie associations protils noth-r ing l.v the sale of the tickets through the machines more than the percentage necessary to pay the expenses of operating the devices. There Is no limit to the number of tickets one may buy and. if so minded, he can buy tickets on every horse in a race, either straight, place or show. It is a matter of record th.it at the four race meetings last spring and summer in Kentucky at Lexington. Douglas Park. Churchill Downs and Latonia. a "man could have backed every horse in every race reu during these meetings and have ipiit a xvinner. An investigation xvill prove this to be a fact. "A remarkable feature in this form of betting is that frequently a horse pays more to place and there have lKen cases xx here it has paid more to show, than it did to win. No such thing could happen xx hen bookmaking xvas the mede of Ixltlug on race tracks. Another feature of fairness in these machines is Hint in case no ticket is sold on a norland that h.irsc xvins. all the straight money goes to the horse which runs second. In case of a dead heat for second place, the winning horse is given his full share of one-half of the place money and each of the two dead-heaters take one-half of the remainder — that is one-fourth of the whole. These facts are merely mentioned to shoxv how fair the system is from every standpoint to those x ho xvager on their choice in the races run. "There have been various cases where a small investment has returned to a player a small fortune in these machines. At Latonia on June 17 1012. Wishing Ring xvon a race and a investment «7n her paid .nn5.50. odds of nearly a thousand to one. As fur as the records shoxv the longest odds in this country laid by bookmakers against a xvin-ning hoi-es xvas on Peytonia in INfM at Washington Park. Chicago, and on Bright Skies at Oakland. Cal.. in Iftilft. live hundred to one being obtainable in both instances. Even this record has lieen beaten xvith these devices In France, as in limit* La Manche won a race there paying odds of gfg f0 There is n. doubt that in time the mutuel machines in Kentucky xvill result in no race being run at the big tracks of this rtate of less than Sl.ooo in added money."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1915101001/drf1915101001_1_3
Local Identifier: drf1915101001_1_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800