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SELLING RACE RULE BENEFICIAL Fotos Owner to Enter Plater at Proper Value and Helps to Increase Purses. New York, August C. That the selling race rule of the Jockey Club, which provides that the surplus bid on a horse either claimed or sold at an auction shall go to the association to be added to the overnight races of the second following day has worked wonders in the matter of purses for "sellers" which have never before been equaled in this country, is shown by the money hung up in the recent selling races at the Empire City track, where ordinary platers have been contesting for sucli amounts as ,071.07, 81,571.0" and similar sums. The rule has warranted a closer living un to the idea of selling races in the matter of entering horses at something like their true value, and those which have been raced at a selling figure below what they could have been purchased for at private sale have been "shot at" to the end that in many instances those owners who have "taken a chance" have come out at the wrong end of the financial horn because of the assistance of a few men who in years gone by have been tabbed "haltermen." This year, however, these men with an honest desire to acquire a horse at the figure they thought it worth, have contributed materially to the welfare of their fellow horsemen by their runups which in no way added to their bankrolls, as in previous years, and have really aided unwittingly in their better racing in the purses for horses of the selling division. An Incident of the sort was seen on a recent Saturday as the result of the first race on the card, which was won by Lady Rotha, which was entered to be sold for 81,200. This mare, which is as good today as she was last year, when she was held to be wortli ,000 at private sale, was bid up by W. Shields to ,500 and protected by her owner. W. H. Baker, with the customary advance of , thus making it a costly win for the western owner.
