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NEW STARTING APPARATUS Marshall Cassidy to Try Out at Tijuana Novel Method of Dispatching Horses in a Race. SAN DIEGO, Cal., Dec. 9. Marshall Cassidy, starter at the Tijuana track, announced today that within the next few days he will uso for the first time a starting gate that he has been working on for three years. By its use he will make possible the start of every race on the moving or walk-up system, as it is more generally called, eliminating post delays of even a few seconds and doing away with practically all kicking by horses and preventing one horse laying against the other. The barrier and webbing are practically the same as now in use, except the webbing is higher above the ground. The uprights are mounted on two light motor delivery trucks, one close to the inside rail, the other close to the outside, with chaffeurs at the-wheel of each truck, but control of starting, stopping and speed of trucks in starter Cas-sidys hands, so regulated as to enable him to drive one truck faster or slower than the other, thus doing away with the necessity of chutes and making possible starting of seven-eighths mile races on the turn, as ho can move the barrier at any angle desired. The starters platform will be on the inner truck and he will be assisted by a man on the track and one mounted on a pony when necessary for fractious or nervous horses. The starting apparatus will meet the horses on the way to the post and they will line up behind the barrier and walk slowly to the post. At a specified distance from the starting point the starter will release the barrier as is now done and the horses will be on their way. Starter Cassidy and all horsemen here competent to judse believe firmly that the method of walking horses in cavalry formation to the barrier and entire elimination of attempting standing starts, will improve the manners of horses immcasureably. The two-year-olds will be schooled with the new method. The new barrier will first be used in a race having a field of moderate size and each day the number of races it will be used in will be increased as horses and jockeys become more accustomed to it. All the horsemen, jockeys and officials here-will unite in helping the starter make the system successful. A muddy track will eventually be no bar to the efficient use o the system, as starter Cassidy and the Tijuana Jockey Club are working out plans covering such details. All stables, more than 400 in number, destroyed by the recent fire, were replaced within four days of the conflagration and all horses but one or two accounted for.
