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MORE ABOUT ARGENTINE RACING Crowds So Great That limit Is Fixed The Bota fogoGroy Tor Match A letter to the Australasian describing Argentine racing and breeding by J II Tower a Melbourne trainer who is in charge of a stable at Buenos Aires says that money there is plentiful and bloodstock prices are high The Argentine buyers are llie most active in England when any leading English stallion comes into the market and they give prices which place horses of the first quality out of the reach of Australian buyers All the betting there it done through the totalizator though it has been frequently urged that the totalizator is ruinous to breders Vet breders in tin totalizator country of Argentina have been able to buy in England of late years horses of the quality of Cyl lene Diamond Jubilee 1olar Star Pietermaritz burg Craganour Your Majesty Jardy and Val dOr to cite only a few fewMr Mr Power writes of Argentine crowds as follows followsAustralian Australian racing clubs would delight to be in the position of the Argentine clubs It is never necessary to limit crowds on Australian courses but that course was deemed prudent on the day when the BotafogoGrey Fox match was run A great crowd was expected and foreseeing trouble the executive made it known through the press that the attendance would be limited to 25000 people It was a matter of first come first served servedHotafogo Hotafogo had been beaten two weeks before by Grey Fox One rumor had it that he was not well another that his jockey had pulled him for a bribe of 20000 Probably the first rumor was nearest right However the match was made and Potafogo the public idol easily won it There had never been so much enthusiasm over a horse race in Buenos Aires or such a crowd to carry it There was only private betting on the match but millions of dollars were wagered on the result Both horses are fine types of the thoroughbred A paper dollar hero is worth about forty cents and each ticket either for a place pr win is two dollars On the day 757377 tickets were sold representing about 001000 The betting on horse racing in Buenos Aires is terrific There arc meetings every Thurs ¬ day and Sunday and all feast days Avhich are iconntless The racing is remarkably well conducted and there is good accommodation but the racing is anything but clean No bookmakihg is allowed and anyone laying the odds or issuing betting slips in jtown at totalizator ycices is heavily fined Ten iper cent is deducted and a prodigious amount given to charity The native hospitals have never to ask for funds as they are supported entirely or almost so by the results of racing and lotteries which are openly legalized The native hospitals are among the finest in the world
