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: i BUSINFSS DEPARTMENT OF RACING. New York Tracks at a Disadvantage in Having Nothing but Gate Receipts. By Ed Cole. 1 New York. February 1. — While there is a chance that racing on the New York tracks will liegiu a trifle earlier than it did last year, it is by no moans icrlain. and at the earliest it will aot begin before May 15, if then, the probabilities being hta] 20. This much was gleaned from a conversation with 1. .1. Dwyer, president of the Aqueduct and Grave-send tracks, who said that nothing had tieen done in the matter of dates. Mr. Dwyer spoke as an individual and not as a result of having discussed the matter with any of the stewards of the Jockey Club. "1 think that we could open here May U and run along until the middle or end of September," said Mr. Dwyer. "but to race after that date under existing conditions would hardly be profitable. Autumn meetings fall away to a low ebb and as the associations have to depend upon the gate receipts lor revenue it can easily be seen that it would lie a hard struggle to make both ends meet if racing sliold be continued for any length of time in the fall "Bvea in the old days, when there was a revenue from the speculators, the fall receipt! fell far holow tliosp of tie silting. The system of lietting today drives many patrons away as the racing wears 011. The -ate receipt* keep up in the early part of the neaaaa, but some bettors will overplay themselves and every one who dies so means a .$.". daily loss at the gate. This is the cause of a decided drop la the attendance at the fall meetings. But the chief reason why we cannot begin racing earlier is the shortage of hones. In the middle of May racing is going on in Maryland and Kentucky, and it would bo difficult to get a sufficient niimlier of horses far Belmont Park. We may have the most stake buses and probably a better class of platers, but cheaper horses are also necessary to make up a race card. "There is another thing." said Mr. Dwyer. "We are not in a position here to give the pal BIB they can in Maryland and Kentucky, owing to the lack of revenue in this state which obtains elsewhere. You cannot expect horsemen who have big bills to pay to race for 00 purses, when they can get much better offerings at other tracks. The man with a horse is going to send bis goods to the best market the same as in any other business. If we could affcrd to give purses as big here as other tracks, then we would have the horses, but that is impossible. Some jxTsons think we are making big profits these days, bat 1 can assure you there is little left for stockholders after the purses and other expenses are paid. Personally. I would rather agree to a two tier cent dividend than a five per cent if we could afford to rai-e the purses sufficiently to attract the best horses and create bigger fields. This cannol 1k done until there is a change in conditions. "I believe there will be greater interest in raring this year than there was last season throughout the country, but the interest will not center in this citv alone. All of the foreign-bred horses will not be corralled in New York. Those who own tiieni will take them where they can win the most money. We shall have the best of them here to run in the rich stakes, but they w ill be sent to other tracks, too. Of course we shall do the l est we can in the wav of purses and stakes to keep the pick of them here for the season. Personally nothing would please me better than to see no purse of less than ,000 and nothing less than ,000 added to any stake, but such wishes can never lie realized under existing conditions, so we must do the best we can to attract with what we have and try to make both ends meet, making profits a secondary consideration. 1 think this is the feeling of all those concerned in the welfare of the turf. We must have horses to race, and we have to offer a program that is inviting, or the attendance will drop off. "It is all very well for outsiders to ask why dont we do this or that. They dont realize the inner workings of the apart. New York today ought to be giving the ricbesi purses and the most valuable stakes in the country, but this cannot be ace, m plished wit hint a greater revenue. We are trying to make racing pay its expenses and as the public interests ami receipts improve so will the purses and stakes, but we have a hard battle to tight to compete with tracks which get revenue of from 1916.sh,000 to Sin.OOO a day from the siieciilating element, while our revenue is confined to gate re-ceints." The date question this year will take quite a bit of threshing out. owing to the re-entrance of Brapire City into the fold and the fact that both Jamaica ami Aqueduct may also want 1o race in the autumn. As customary. Belim nt Park will follow Saratoga and its dates may run to aboat the fifteenth of September, after that the ache dole is fggy. for if the dates are allotted to Jamaica. Empire City and Aquediiei. the meetings would have to be run off whether profitable or not. and as Mr. Dwy.-r point* out. the attendance falls off decided ly after the middle of September. Horses also got scarce after the close of Saratoga racing, nianv horsemen preferring the three months h|iort scheduled in Marvland for September. October and November to the shifting around New York. These questions, however, cannot be decided until after all application* for dates have beea tiled with the Jockey Club which will hold a meeting about the middle of February to act apoa what appears to he a rather knotty problem this year.
