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PROPOSED REVISION OF SELLING RULES. Captain Cassatts Amendments to Jockey Club Rules Follow French Rules Closely. Captain Edward R. Cassatt, who brought about an amendment to the racing of two-year-olds last Winter, has proposed a most elaborate and complicated amendment to the Jockey Club rules governing selling races. It is his proposal to wipe out the present rules from 127 to 132, inclusive, and in their place substitute his offering. That is to do away entirely with the present regulations that govern selling races. As a substitute for Rule 127 Captain Cassatt at great length has followed along the lines of the French rule which permits the claiming of a horse before post time. The proposed new rule reads in part: "Any person who wishes to buy a horse before the race must submit to the stewards or to the clerk of the scales a written bid containing the offer of an amount which may not be less than that for which the horse is entered to be sold. The purchaser will have to pay in addition to the amount written in his submitted bid the value of the race to the winner increased, according to circumstances, by the entrance fee or by the highest forfeit. "The horse thus claimed may not start. Rut if payment for him is not made immediately to the clerk of the course or guaranteed to the satisfaction of the stewards the claim is void and the horse may start. "At the time of the signal for beginning the operation of weighing out, which shall be thirty minutes before the time fixed for the race, the letters are opened and any horse entered to be claimed belongs to the person who has made the highest bid." It will be observed that Captain Cassatt would make the claiming, as the auctions, open to all and not confined to those having starters in the same race. There are various sections of the rule as to the time of reporting a horse, and it is provided that the program numbers of the horses present in the paddock are reported for the race, shall be posted on a bulletin board provided for that purpose. Any horse starting in a race without fulfilling these requirements shall be disqualified under the new measure. Then the claiming is safeguarded by many regulations and two of them are: "The owner has a right only to the amount for which he has entered his horse to be sold, increased by the value of the race to the winner and, according to the case, by the amount of his- entrance fee or that of the highest forfeit, and any surplus goes to the race fund. "In case of the purchase being void by failure to pay for the horse, the signer of the bid remains responsible for the difference between his offer and that of the person to whom the horse is allotted or, if there has been no other bid than his, for the surplus resulting from his bid. No horse owned wholly or partially by him or entered in his name may start until this surplus has been paid." Rule 129 deals with claims made after the running of the race, and it provides that, these claims shall be made in writing within fifteen minutes after the completion of the weighing in. If the claim be for the winnee the bidder need pay nothing more than the amount written on the bid submitted. If it be a horse who has run a divided dead heat, or if it be a horse entitled to place money, or if it be a horse, unplaced in the race, the purchaser will have to pay, in addition to the claiming figure named in the bid he has submitted, the sum necessary to indemnify or to assure to the seller the integral value of the race to the winner, increased by the entrance fee. "The owner has a right only to the amount for which he has entered his horse to be sold, increased by his entrance fee and, according to circumstances, by the value of the race to the winner or by the value of the race to the winner less any place or other money the horse may have won, and the surplus goes to the race fund." Like rule 127 there are numerous regulations as to payment of the bids submitted and the legal procedure in the transfer of the .horse. Rule 129 requires that the horses must remain in the paddock until the result of the sale is known. The penalty for a violation of this rule is a fine of 200. Under this regulation it would become necessary to keep every horse that started in either a selling or claiming race in the paddock until fifteen minutes after the finish of the race. Some changes are suggested in the auction clause, but Captain Cassatt retains the auction instead of the sealed bids. He would have the surplus over the entered selling price go to the race fund and no provision is made for any other starter sharing in the advance over the selling price. This rule also provides that "In auction selling races all the horses may be claimed before the race and, if it is not specified in the conditions that only the winner is subject to sale, horses other than the winner may be claimed after the race as prescribed for the various cases by the selling race rules." In rule 131 Captain Cassatt makes possible the purchase of a horse that has been disqualified. This section reads: "Any horse disqualified before the signal indicating the completion of weighing in after the race can be bought nevertheless, even though he be disqualified from first place in a race whose conditions require that only the winner shall be for sale. The purchaser will have to pay in addition to an amount at least equal to the price at which that horse has been entered to be sold the sum necessary to assure to the vendor the value of the race to the winner plus the entrance fee. "When, before the race, a horse is adjudged by the stewards to be ineligible or when, after the race, and after being sold, he is disqualified or adjudged ineligible, his purchaser has the choice of agreeing or of refusing either to accept delivery or to keep him. 4,If he decides to accept delivery or to keep the horse he must pay, iu addition to the claiming figure, the value of the race to the winner and, according to circumstances, of the entrance fee or of the highest forfeit. If he refuses delivery or sends the horse back the sale and its effects are void: the costs of the sale are due from the seller." t
