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AGAINST NEW APPRENTICE RULES Many Owners and Trainers Do Not Favor Proposed Change Suggested by H. K. Knapp. New York. December 5. It is not probable the new apprentice rules proposed by II. K. Knapp, and seconded by Frank Hitchcoek, will be adopted at the annual meeting of the Jockey Club next month. There are too many arguments, by owners, -trainers and others concerned in Jockey Club affairs, that such a change in the existing rule would work hardships on men who spend time and money educating apprentices. At present an apprentice gets five pounds allowance in selling races for one year after having ridden his first winner. The new rule exhausts the apprentice allowance after a jockey has ridden forty winners. It is claimed by some owners and trainers that a real good apprentice, of wldch the percentage is rather small, might ride forty winners in two or three months and, should he do this, his employer would lose the allowance just at a time when he was becoming useful. Citing an instance, one could take an apprentice like Walls. He is in great demand and at a winter meeting might easily ride forty winners. In fact, there is little question that such good riders as AValls or Trolse would win forty races in three months on any track or tracks, in fact Troise has ridden seventy-seven winners this year and Walls record is a good one. Had the forty winner limit been in vogue last year, the employer of Troise would have been practically deprived of liis services long ago so far as the allowance -was concerned. "The forty winner rule will give no encouragement to trainers to educate riders," said one horseman. "Take a man like Fitzsimmons, for instance. He hns possibly from twelve to fifteen boys under contract whom he is trying to mould into jockeys. To make a success he has to try them all by giving them opportunities. If he gets one good rider out of twenty he will be lucky. Look at the expense he has incurred, the races he has lost by giving riders opportunities which he would have won but for his efforts to secure a valuable apprentice. "There is compensation for his work if he develops a rider tinder the twelve-month clause, but with the forty winning mounts limit there is little opportunity for an employer to turn, a jockey over to an owner of a big racing establishment which would be beneficial to employer and the appreatice from a financial standpoint. WALLS CONTRACT BRINGS BIG PRICE. "As an example, Mr. Sanford has bought the contract on AValls. What he gave for it is the affair of buyer and seller, but it was a considerable sum, sufficient to encourage Fitzsimmons to continue schooling promising riders. "Emil Ilerz paid ,000 for the three-year contract on Troise, believing liiiu to be a coming rider. He did not consider the termination of his apprentice allowance, which expires shortly. In the opinion of Mr. Ilerz. Troise has proved himself a high-class jockey by finishing in the money 224 times out of 535 mounts, having 77 victories to his credit. Witli the appreatice allowance expiring after forty winning mounts, it is doubtful if Troise would have had as many opportunities to display his ability, consequently his desirability would not have been as pronounced." There are many arguments forthcoming on the new apprentice proposition and the above is the view of a horseman of experience who does not wish to be quoted for no other reason than his objections to the limelight. He also intimated that another drawback to the rule "might be mentioned the fact that some jockeys would carry their apprentice allowance to the grave, never having reached the forty winner limit. "Then again," said he, "I imagine some little old man returning to race riding, after being lost in the woods for ten or twelve years, stepping on the 6cales and claiming the apprentice allowance. The clerk would look him over and wonder whether to grant the privilege or not, having no proof handy to verify the claim. It is possiblo he could have ridden 500 winners in the bushes under his own or some other name. "Complications would be innumerable under such conditions, every jockey would have to be traced from the day he rode his first winner and records kept to note the expiration of the apprentice allowance. Of course, this is straining the possibilities to the limit, but such an occurrence is possible. The intent of Mr. Knapp to change the rule to improve riding conditions is commendable, but whether the changes as proposed .will fill the bill Js another question, one that will no doubt be thrashed out wheu the time arrives for discussion."
