view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Good Business Management. Old Purse Paying Methods. Developments of Winter Racing. Young Starters Are Making Good. It has been announced that when the racing of the Business Mens Association is opened at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans there will be an absolute separation of the business and racing departments. This is a wise move and one that should bring excellent results. It is also proposed that no accounts will be kept for the horsemen and the racing will be conducted on a strictly cash basis. Checks will be paid daily in the office to the owners of the winning horses and in turn the horsemen will be required to maintain a cash system in meeting eheir obligations, such as jockey fees, entrance and scratch money. Fo that there will be no delay, by reason of failure of trainers and jockeys to have licenses opportunity is offered for applications long enough before the opening of the meeting and it is likely those who fail to avail themselves of the chance to be properly equipped for the opening may be put to some inconvenience. The besetting fault of many horsemen is procrastination and unless a penalty is imposed they will, by this fault, frequently handicap themselves materially, and at the same time work some harm to the success of any opening. Not infrequenlly at the beginning of a meeting both trainers and jockeys, merely through neglect, find themselves without licenses for the opening. This has made necessary the issuance of temporary licenses. But the issuance of these licenses really fathers procrastination. It would be well, as has been threatened many times, if no temporary licenses were issued. Such a rule might cure the existing carelessness in the taking out of licenses by those who merely have to make the application to have it granted. The suggested, but rescinded, payment of the purse money daily is going back to the old days at the Fair Grounds when C. S. Bush was the ruling spirit. For many years, when Mr. Bush had the track, the first money was actually hung up on a wire strung across the track at the finish line. The money was placed in an ornate silk or satin bag of gaudy color and the rider of the winner, after having been confirmed in that position, was lifted back in the saddle to actually take down the purse. These handsome little receptacles of money won were trophies of the race that were much sought after even when the purse money had been removed. Many of the owners permitted the winning jockey to keep them, but they eventually found their way into the boudoir of some sweetheart or wife, for they were dainty bits that appealed strongly to the women. The same practice marked other western and southern meetings and was a feature at Garfield Park in Chicago. Apart from the sentiment that went with the little silken purse there was the assur- ance in its hanging there, before the horse went to the post, that the actual money was awaiting the winner. There have bsen some meetings conducted when owners were not so sure they would be paid the money even after it was won. "Winter racing always brings interesting developments. Usually it is some apprentice rider who jumps to the front at one or another of the winter tracks. Some times it is a horse that does not find himself until he reaches New Orleans, Havana or Tijuana. But there is almost sure to be some sort of a development. Corcoran has been the riding sensation at the Jefferson Park meeting, and, so far as riders are concerned, he is the lad who has won his way into the spotlight, but it is probable, that the New Orleans racing will be more remarkable for the development of starters. The unfortunate illness of A. B. Dade, the regularly appointed starter, offered a chance for both W. Hamilton and William Snyder. Both had a long schooling while assisting Mr. Dade and each has shown real ability at the barrier. Hamilton has been sending the horses away at Jefferson Park with marked success and Snyder is to have his chance at the Fair Grounds. Each has helped the other, and while Snyder has helped Hamilton at Jefferson Park Hamilton will be Snyders helper at the Fair Grounds. Each has an honest desire for the success of the other and, with two such men working together, there need I be no fear of the starting when the sport moves over to the Fair Grounds on New Years Day. No function of the race track requires the same expert skill as does starting. But just jnow the turf seems to be better supplied with capable young starters than ever before. Marshall Cassidy, when he assumed his duties I in the middle of the afternoon, to fill in for J George T. Miller when he was taken sick at Bowie, made good adequately. Now both Hamilton and Snyder have also made good. No starter makes a closer study of his horses than Marshall Cassidy, and he makes it his business to learn the characteristics of every horse that goes to the barrier. In Maryland, when he had some horsc3 that he had never handled before, he made a study of their past performances to find out just how they had been leaving the barrier. To those sluggish in starting he gave special attention, while he also, by this study, was able to prevent the rapid beginners from having too much the best of a start.
