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i 1 1 1 ! MUDDLING OVER SELLING RACE RULES. Owners at Tijuana Pestering- Management for More. 1 Changes — Reformers at Work. By J- If- -TefLory. Ran Diego. Cal.. March 1.— With the idea of still further improving he conditions incidental to ! the decision of selling races at Tijuana, the Call- : fornia branch of the Thoroughbred Horse Associa-ti .11 will meet on Wednesday evening next for the purpose of taking formal action on a proposal to ask M assurer Coffroth of the Lower California • Jockey flub to revise the present rule governing ; the claiming of horses out of selling rac. s. m ! as to provide that claims shall be filed before the running of the race instead of after. The leaden of the association declare that there is 1 a strong sentiment among the earners of horse- fi r sack a change and that there is no dault of the adaption of the p isjosal. which is designed ] to meet the one weak spot la the practice governing seUhsg races here, in accordance with the riews of representathre Itonesaeu. It is admit veil that the abject of the amendment, which it is sought to make, is to reduce to the minimum the claiming of horses by the horsemen, one from the other. There has been a greater amount of claiming than the irjnasnre of the present ■ rule anticipated v hen it was put into force. There has been so mucb exchanging of horses, in fai t. that it has taken a nimble wit to keep track of the Changes. Secretary Edward Jasper, who is a :. unl bit of a wag. dryly remarked a few days ago. that it is a wise horse that knows its owner around here. A g.iodlv share of the claiming lias been due to the activities of George Alexandre.. Owner Alexandra and Kid Nelson. It has been his poHey to keep an eye out foe horses of the useful type that appeared to be at the top of their form and Quite a few horses of this sort have gone to his stable. la the claiiu-i 1 i u route, after winning a race at Tijuana during the past two months. Incidentally it may ! • remarked, in passing, that Alexandra has sie-ceeded in winning one or more races wth practically all tiie hors.-s he has claim d. A notable exception is Kid Nelson, and close observers, who are familiar m ith the peculiarities of this particular horse, are willing to wafr that Alexandra will be rt!--Mo to -.-in a race with him. II. W. Hoag. who won several purses with this hors- here this winter, thoroughly understood his peculiarities as a result of having had him in charge almost from t!ie tiia" when he first began to race and gives him the reputation ef being a most difficult horse to train and race, so perhaps tin- general idea tliat he will prove a white elephant in the Alexandra ratablishmeat may not be far-fetched. Hut, as a general rub1, Alexandra, wiio is a ban horse trader, has fared well in his claiming transaction . and. unl-ss his stable is reduced by sales or otherwise, will retura east at the conclusion of the Tijuana season with tartea as many nones as he brought hen. He plans to race in Canada for DM iin t part during the summer. What the Horsemens Association Seeks. Naturally these selling ran aiiivities on t!i -part of Mr. Alexandra and others, wiio made claims of horses, result d in pi nty of counterclaims. The exponents of the proposed new rue- believe that much of this will be eliminated by tho simple expedient of requiring that claims be made in advance of the running of a race and therefore before the Cam of any particular horse had beea disclosed, iniler the new arrangement, a none, eiu if claimed, would run in the interest of tie-man who had cut red him for the race and the claimaat would obtain possession of tiie animal only after the race had been run. One of tin- points made by the advocates of the proposed rule is that it will operate to protect an owner, wiio in lunawparnn of some mishap in training, has been carrying a bane along for a eon- siil-rable time in the hope of winning a race or two from the unscrupulous "nypay." who is always 01; the alert for such Opportunities as the working of tin- present rule presents. What, manager Coffrotai attitude towards the proposed rale w il be is not known, bat it Is presumed that he will offer no serious objection to the change, since it in no way affects the finances of the track. Tie whole aim of the Horsemens Association at present seems to be to bring its members into a harmony of action tli.tt will eliminate petty bickerings over nonessentials and give each member of the organization the opportunity of working cut his individual destiny under the most favorable i oud.tions. San Diego Reformers Getting Busy. Baefasg has i:-. :"■ 1 -•. as well as its friends, in Sin Diego. Happily, so far as can be foretold at this time, the former are in the minority. Hut it is a busy minority and it is trying to haraKS the port at Tijuana, unmindful of the BUlterial benefit that San Dicgi reaps from the influx of visitors attracted lure by racing at Tijuana, to say nothing of the added-diversion that the sport provide; for tourists who come here to enjoy the delights of San Diegos widely-heralded climatic conditions. While President Coffroth of the Lower California Jockey Club has. of late, received rah-Itantlal evidence of tin- high valuation place! by influential leaders of the commercial and civic life f the community on racing as an v, s.-t in Stin Diegos development, the would-be reformers have been active mil lave obtained a sufficient number of s-gn stun s to an ordinance prohibiting the dis semination of all race track laformatioa in this city to ensure it a plan on the ballot for approval or disapproval at the forthcoming municipal election In April. The accessary signatures, were ehieflj supplied by womtn, wiio have the franchise and take an active part in potttfcs in all Pacific coast statea. Once enacted, such an ordi nance could only be repealed by the same maj .riry vote of the voters that is necessary for its enactment. It is expected that the liberal ehnatenl of the city will rally in oppostitm to the proposition and defeat it. Clarence jtuxion. whose horses have been making a goid Showing at Tijuana of late, plan to ship his stable from here to Kentucky for the spring BteethsgS in thai state, after which he will continue on to Canada and Saratoga. He is so well satisfied with bis experience here this season that he plans to return again next fall, probably with a larger stable than he is now campaigning.
