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-XOEASYPICKINGATTIJUANA BOOKMAKERS AT MEXICAN TRACK FIND BETTING PUBLIC DISCRIMINATIVE. Patrons of the Sport Well Educated in Art of Spot-tine Winners Frequently — Activities of the Thoroughbred Horse Association. liy .1. B. JefTery. San Diego. C::].. March IS. — Living the lx-t tinjx ring nit of consideration, the Tijuana race meeting, which recently entered upon nil extension •f somewhat indefinite length, is going along i:i a highly satisfactory ■iiiti The attendance is avenging up tl us high ;i figure M :it any time share the mrrtlinT opened on November 11 l::st. the MCing contention is possilily keener than ever. the wenllier is simply perfection and all in all. the average racegoer is extracting an abundance of enjoyment out of the sport. The one weak spot — as hiring the greater part of the season — is the betting ring. The arrangement* in connection with the speculative end of the sport have caused man-ager OanTroth no little raacera and trouble all si nana and particularly so of late. All sorts of 1 ! ins have lieen tried without yielding the results desired in the way of stability and permanency. 1 he inability of the bookmakers to escape severe and continuous innnea, regardless of whether tiny weie operating on the apea ring plan or under a syndicate arrangement, is at the bottom of the difficulties encountered in connection with the conduct of the ring. Some supposedly shrewd bookmakers have taken a [Hag here thhi winter, but without ;.v; il and most of them have retired discomfited. The few wha have persisted in doing business iu spite of frequent reverses have been getting in deeper and deeper for the most part. Some of them had ll Willed small balances on the right side of the ledger under the open ring conditions that prevailed during tin- early part of tie meeting, but almost without exception these balance* disappeared leng ago. The bookmaker* attrittate their non-success to two principal factors—the high cost of operating under tin pli.i of pre rating the ring in its semi-syndicaled form and tile wonderful discriminative ability of the betting public. Until a few days ago. the ring Waa contributing Sli.500 daily to the expense of candactiag the meeting. Following the redaction of the parses, this amount has been ut to ,1 0. With only eight or ten bookmakers available to share this expense, it can readily be . i n that, with the addition of the other necessary xgenxe* im Mental to bookmaking. the principal one of which is for clerk iiire. the bookmaker begina business hen each day under a heavy handicap. 3cokmaker No Longer Enjoy an Advantage. It is not Bach a MBg time ago that such a handicap weald easily have been overcame at the average American race track, but gradually it is being borne in upon the bookmaker that conditions generally have si changed that he no longer enjoys the advantage In- pace did. in the way of superior knowledge of a horses condition and ability. It may almost be said that today he has little or n edge on the betting public in the way of sizing up a horses chances. In fact, it often happens that i he collective opinion of his patron is far sounder than his own. That is the plaint of the bookmakers hen-. They say they never have come in contact witii a wiser public than that which has been patronizing the racing at Tijuana this season. One and all they agree that the public here concentrate* its attention only upoa sharp contenders and UM-s rare dim ilmlnallon in so doing, ll is this nice discrimination that rolls the lx ok- mnker nf the percentage that his slate may show, but which his sheets are deficient in. It is just such discrimination that rendered sberttye the tactics of tin- layers in increasing th.ir boohing percentages when the open ring plan was abandoned. The InehTcctiveneaa of such a move was strikingly demonstrated here on Tnesdsy last. when alter a period of comparative liberality, the small coterie of layers who did business that day suddenly changed their tactics and quoted odds ralralal d to yield a percentage of Ul, which, as everybody knows, is outrageous. The move tailed to rumplisli its purpose, bonnet, for the public gave the bookmaker* Just as bad a drubbing as on the days when the booking percentages ran much lower, "lie manner in which things Have been going in the belting ring of late will undoubtedly influence manager Coffrotli to make social efforts to strengthen that adjunct of the sport for next seasons meet-i!.. bete, it is understood that he will make heroic efforts to maintain open ring conditions throughout the season and that iu furtherance of that parpose, only a nominal fee wili be charged for booking. regardless it the number of book* doing business. Thoroi ghhred Horse Association Movements. As foreshadowed iii this correspondence, the western branch of the Thoroaghbred Borne Association tank action ;,t its meeting on Wednesday last to . mend lie rule governing selling races by providing that all claim* for horses shall l e made fifteen minutes prior to the running of the race, in tend of afterwards. The amendment was adopted by ■ vote of about two to one. was readily assented to by president CosTroth of the Lower California Jockey Club, and became effective oa Saturday list. The horsemen who labored for its adoption believe that ,t will solve the selling race problem, which has attracted so much attention at all American race tracks of late. It v ill be designated as the Tijuana selling race rule and will be brought to the attention of the eastern branches of the Thoroughbred Horse Association, if it works cut satisfactorily in practice here. Ptailh*S taking the action above referred to. the local ass iciation adopted a resiilution urging the directors of the parent Thoroughbred Horse As mcJataw tn roanlder the feasibility ot bringing about an arrangement by which a trainers license issued by any turf governing body shall be r cognize, 1 by all other racing organizations, thus obviating the Ul L CsnUj lor paying several fees to the various governing bodies under whose jurisdiction a trainer may desire to ply his vocation. Stiil : gather matter iiken uii araa a request npoa the parent ocganisa tloa for aid in a movesaeat *" obtain mor • liberal concession from western railroads in connection with tie- transportation of help required in the shipping of horse* ii rail. It is alleged that eastern railroads are much more liberal in this respect than thane operating west of the Mississippi river, and i he local horsemen are anxious that the matter Continued ou second page. NO EASY PICKING AT TIJUANA. Continued from first page. shall be brought to the attention of the Interstate Commerce Commission with the idea that thereby they will obtain the desired relief. The inciting also mark-el the retirement of A. Logan Denny from the chairmanship of the wcaatra branch of the association, which he was instrumental In organizing and which he leaves in a highly flourishing condition. Mr. Denny will return to his home in Kentucky in a few days. His successor as total ehairasaa is George W. BUlermaa. With the latter in the new executive commit tee. will be associated Al Farrell. H. W. Hoag, Stuart Folk and Juan Fueiitez. Old Lieut. Sawyer a Good One. The eight -year-old bay gelding Lieut Sawyer, by Gold Heels — Rose 1omponi. which ran a series of wini, ing races at Tijuana in the colors of B. Pine-gar prior to being claimed by George Alexandra a few days ago. impressed horsemen with the idea that he might have been a high -class horse but for the physical infirmities with which he was called upon to contend in his younger days. His ankles bear mute evidence of the handicap to which he was subjected, but are said to give him no trouble nowadays. He was shipped from Kentucky into the north-west-rn section of America by his breeders J. O. A: G. II. Keene. as a young horse and raced creditably in their colors until acquired by-other owners. For the past two or three seasons lie has been winning races right and left at fail-meetings in the north-west and his initial appearance, at odds of 10 to 1 at Tijuana on February 12 of this year, after a course of preparation at Ascot Iark. Los Angels, was marked by a mild killing on the part of his table mnurrtlnna Whether or not he will race as effectually for his new owner remains to be demonstrated. It is reported that Roy Offutt, by far the big-g st liookmaker now ooeratuig at Tijuana, is planning to retire from that business at the close of the Tijuana racing season. He is credited with having amassed a great fortune out of laying odds, most of which he still possesses according to those in his confidence. He has been in rather poor health of late and plans to go into the nearby mountains hiring the summer to recuperate. Mr. Offutt is known in racing circles throughout the length and breadth of America a* a daring operator and is i , r readj to take no end of liberties with u horse, whose chances lie does not fancy. His operations in recent years have been confined to the west. Intil the mutuels supplanted the books at Juarez, he wis a leading figure in the betting ring at that track and he also operated a poolroom on a big scale in that Mexican city under the Villa regime. Conning Tower Not a Sprinter Only. The horses lurmerlv race, I in the name of the Ayeaabe st ,i,i,.. i,v Oaorge W. BUlermaa, are now racing in tie- name of H. Morris, a San Diego business man. who has been associated with Mr. Bilhrmaii in various turf transactions. The latter is still training tin- harm, which include each good racers as, Maud Bacea and Bronco Billy. Horsemen have come to the conclusion that Bronco Billy is strictly a mud runner, and a superlative one. Conning Tower, after a series of disappointing races, finally won a race for former jockey Carroll Shilling on Thursday last, and at the unwanted distance of one mile and a sixteenth. This speed] son of Yankee — Okitau was a long time in rounding into til" form expected of him. but when be finally did score it was ,.er worthy opposition and at « distance wired was popularly believed to be a bit beyond his capabilities. ]|,. „ ,, w.-ll backed by his stable couin cl ions, however, on the strength of a sensation all.v last work-out the day before his wiiinin;- effort, when it is said he core red a half mile iii 4"L.. uj his uuer attempted to work him a ball in 0-,
