view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Clean Racing of Last Year No Major Offenses at Big BigTracks Tracks Punishments Mainly for forBough Bough Eiding Just how free the turf was from scandal during the racing of 1922 is pretty well shown in a study of the suspensions that were im ¬ posed during the year That condition of cleanliness is particularly applicable to the racing in New York Kentucky and Maryland over the big tracks tracksAt At not one of the big tracks was it found necessary to punish for fraud during the year and the various suspensions were for minor in ¬ fractions of the rules of racing racingThe The Empire City Racing Association showed the greatest number of such punishments where there were five jockey suspensions One was for foul riding three for rough riding the re ¬ maining one for disobedience at the post postAt At Saratoga there were three suspensions and each was for rough riding At Aqueduct two riders were suspended for rough riding and at Belmont Park there was one punishment for a like offense At Jamaica two suspensions were imposed for rough riding ridingAt At Latonia the longest of the Kentucky meetings there were eight punishments in ¬ flicted and seven of them were for rough riding The other was for disobedience at the post postAt At Churchill Downs J D Mooney was sus ¬ pended for striking Garner with his whip dur ¬ ing the runaing of a race and the others of seven suspensions inflicted were for rough riding At Lexington the four offenses were two for rough riding and one of disobedience at the post while one jockey was ruled off for grasping the bridle of another horse during a race raceIn In Maryland Havre de Grace showed four punishments One was for not riding a horse out at the finish one for rough riding an ¬ other for disobedience at tha post and the other for riding in an unfit condition The one sus ¬ pension at Pimlijo was for rough riding ridingAt At Bowie there were two suspensions and they were for similar offenses One jockey was punished for using abusive language and the other creating a disturbance in the jockey room roomThis This gives a fair idea of how the racing was conducted and it is a testimonial to the turf that is worth remembering rememberingIt It is almost impossible to commit a fraud in racing without tha help and connivance of jockeys and it is shown that there was not single case in the three big racing fields of the country where a jockey was punished for fraud fraudWilliam William Keys a stable foreman was ruled off at Latonia on a charge of having doped the horsa Millersburg Another drastic ruling was when J Thomas Taylor was ruled off at Lex ¬ ington for using profane language languageThe The horse Tribune was suspended at the Yonkers track of the Empire City Racing As ¬ sociation for inconsistent running and Irish Dream was barred from starting at Havre de Grace for fractiousncss at the post That just about winds up the record of all the punishments It is unfortunate that dur ¬ ing the year there were some cases of spong ¬ ing but it was impossible to obtain a convic ¬ tion in any of the cases They were vigilantly examined and in fact some of them are still subjects of investigation but this is an offense in which it is particularly hard to run the cul ¬ prit down These offenses are usually com ¬ mitted under cover of the night and the only way in which the horses can be properly pro ¬ tected is better policing of the stables through the night nightAt At various of the tracks identifying badges are now issued to all the stable employes and no one is permitted to enter tEe track after hours unless able to prove his identification That is all very well if the track has a sufficient number of watchmen to properly guard the property Most of the stables employ their own watchmen and as a general proposition the cases of sponging have usually occurred here the stable was not properly protected That is a matter that is largely up to the train
