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* * ; Here and There [ on the Turf — : l On Filly Chances. Dog Racing Evils. Sport in New York. Demanding Respect. • 1 • 1 , How there comes another filly to the fore in preparation for the Kentucky Derby. Earlier in the year it was intimated that William i . Du Fonts Fair Star, winner of the Pimlico • Futurity of the Maryland Jockey Club, last I I fall was the best of the eligibles of tbe gentler * sex. The new one to come into prominence is ; j j Lodina, a filly Mrs. Payne Whitney purchased 1 from Kmil Hen last year. This miss has been i working exceedingly well for Clyde Phillips and I it is entirely possible that she will bear tbe I colors of the Greentree Stable at Churchill 1 Downs on May 14. On her races of but year it was suggested that Lodina, while a swift t sprinter, was nothing more. Now she has been i showing ability to race over the mile distance and the manner in which she has been training - would indicate that, after all, she will go i on for the mile and a quarter of the Kentucky ! Derby. As a matter of fact, Lodina is further r advanced than the colt eligibles of the Green-tree . Stable and if the colors are to be shown i in the running of the race she is the most t likely one to be sent to the post. When Regret was winner of the Kentucky f Derby of 1115. it was Pebbles that raced to second place, while Sharp Shooter was third. . Of course, it was a great accomplishment t for a great filly, for no other thoroughbred of f ! : her sex had won tbe big race, but Lodina a or any other filly that may go to the post next t month, will find stiffer opposition than did j Regret. Pebbles and Sharp Shooter hardly y measure up to such colts as Scapa Flow and i Sweepster, while there was nothing in the 1925 5 field of a two-year-old class that suggested d their being the equal of Joseph E. Wideners s Osmand, and others could be named of the e 1927 three year olds that are admittedly better r than those that opposed Regret. Remember, r, Regret was a great filly and she proved it in d other races than the Kentucky Derby, but it t will take a greater filly than Regret to beat | the colts that are being trained for the 1927 7 renewal of the race. There is no reason to 0 expect that Lodina or Fair Star or Candy y Queen are greater than Regret, on what they y accomplished last year and should the best st of the male eligibles go the post, and one e of the fillies be returned the winner she will H have accomplished more than did Harry Payne e Whitneys queenly filly twelve years ago. Application has recently been made at Albany, 1 N. Y., for the licensing of a company that proposes to conduct dog racing. Just ,t what are the plans of thi proposed organisation is not known, but it is known that the tiog tracks in other sections have, on occasions, brought about an opposition to all racing and accordingly did some harm to horse racing. The other tracks that have conducted the dog races— that is, almost all of them have been operated under a modified system of the pari mutuel system of wagering. This seems to have been the sole reason for the establishment of the tracks and it is not known of any one that was organized purely for sport. They have all been business ventures and some of them tremendously successful business ventures by reason of the high percentage that was "taken off" for the operation of the mutuels. Of course, the pari mutuel system is illegal in the State of New York and this proposed organization will have to operate under some other method of speculation. It is remembered that at Batavia there was an attempt to give ; [ l , i . • I I * ; j j 1 i I I 1 t i - i ! r . i t f . t f ! : a t j y i 5 d s e r r, d it t | 7 to 0 y y st e H e 1 ,t • race meeting under the certificate system, i ♦ which in its operation is closely akin to the pari mutuel system. That meeting was not sanctioned by the racing commission and its original plans had to be materially changed to come within the law. It is not known where it is proposed to eon-duct these dog races, should sanction be obtained, but taking a line through tbe other dog tracks, it might readily become a menace to the turf. There can be no venture, whether it be dogs or horses, when it is purely a business j enterprise. If this racing of dogs in New York * is to be a sport and if it is to be conducted i between sun-up and sun-down, instead of at night, as is the accepted custom almost every- | where else, there can be no harm. If it is to be patterned after some of tbe other business ventures, with night racing, it might readily work a great harm to tbe turf. In no section of the country is racing as , free from commercialism as in tbe State of New York. The racing associations do not , share in any speculation that may go on within its grounds and its sole source of revenue comes from the gate, the sale of the catering concessions and the sale of the racing programs. There was a time when the New York racing associations paid rather handsome dividends, but that time has passed with the repeal of the Percy-Gray law; it was only the courage and the dollars of the associations that saved the sport for the state. There were many lean years and it is remembered that in 1911 and 1912 all the big tracks under the jurisdiction of The Jockey Club kept their gates dosed. Then when the sport was resumed in 1913 it was resumed on a limited scale with die asso- ciations pooling their interests to carry on. The racing was brought back at considerable loss to the turfmen who stood by and did the financing. Lean years followed, and it is only within the last two years that racing in tbe State of New York has come anywhere close to breaking even. The sport is still without the revenues that come where the pari mutuel system of wager ing is permitted, but the tremendous popu-r larity of the turf has brought its reward, though in no sense a generous one, to the men who bridged over the bad times with their wealth. With the return of a measure of prosperity there came an increase in tbe values that were offered and thus it has always been kept a sport above all other things. Such a sport must not be menaced by any dog racing, and such a sport must not be linked with any racing that has as its sole object a com mercial enterprise. Al Woodman has been reinstated by the Tijuana stewards. Their S. A. Cowan trainer had been suspended following the publication of a supposed interview in which be was quoted as complaining bitterly of tbe way he and his horse Cotlogomor had been treated in the running of the Coffroth Handicap. Woodman admitted he had complained a bit about tbe treatment of the imported horse in the running of the rich race, but his complaint was built into rather a bitter arraignment in the pub- lished interview. The reinstatement came following an affi- davit from the writer of the objectionable mat- trr that Woodman was not responsible for all that had been expressed in type. It is always well that racing officials should demand the full respect of those over whom they sit in control. Unless the trainers, jockeys and the owners themselves show a proper re spect for the officials these officials lose much power. Any set of officials who do not insist upon a proper respect should lose their power, and any officials who do not merit respect never last long in an official position. There have been occasions when the best official was open to criticism, and and he is weak indeed if his acts never are questioned, but there is a wide difference between criticism and charges of any lack of integrity. That is the stock in trade of every racing official and any charge against integrity must be either conclurivdy proved or severely punished.
