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Here and There on the Turf Heal Holiday Racing Ignorance and Falsehood Weapons Against Racing Churchill Downs Statistics Saturday was truly a big day for rac ¬ ing It saw the opening of the Latonia meeting the running of the Fairmount Derby at the Fairmount course at Col linsville the Suburban Handicap of the Westchester Placing Association at Bel mont Park as well as the 5000 Debu ¬ tante Stakes for twoyearold fillies at the Washington Park course of the Illinois Jockey Club ClubAt At each of these various racing grounds there was a program befitting a special day of sport and the attendance at all gave further testimony to the hold that racing has on the American public And year after year the racing continues to grow in popular favor until now there is no holiday attraction of any descrip ¬ tion that has a better drawing power with the holiday makers makersIt It was natural that such a race as the Fairmount Derby with the promise of another meeting between the three placed horses in the Kentucky Derby should have a peculiar appeal Whiskery Os mand and Jock which were first second and third in the Churchill Downs race were to meet again with Whiskery con ¬ ceding eight pounds to the other two That alone made the Fairmount Derby of great interest to all sections and that was reason enough for many turfmen choosing the Collinsville course for a Saturday visit visitBut But with all the appeal of the Fair mount Derby each of the other courses had recordbreaking crowds and al ¬ together it was just one more big day for the American turf turfAnd And with all this there is a fight on in Florida to preserve racing in that state while a threat is made that Ken ¬ tucky the native heath of the thorough ¬ bred horse will have to battle again against an interruption of racing Each time there has been a crusade against the turf in this or any other country those who would stamp out the sport have resorted to all sorts of false charges against the greatest of all sports and while much of this may have come from gross ignorance or simply malicious falsehood it had the same effect of plac ¬ ing the turf in an altogether false light with those who would not take the trouble to find out for themselves themselvesIt It is remarkable that campaigns of morality by the holier than thou brigade should resort to such methods of falsity and immorality to bring about their ends Whether it be ignorance or malice it makes no difference for a fool is often more dangerous than a knave and it is usual that both are at work diligently against all of the joys of real men The knaves are working for a price or a selfish motive while the fools well they are just fools and nothing else could be expected of them themMarcus Marcus A Milam one of the opposers of racing in Florida has stamped him ¬ self as either maliciously misrepresent ¬ ing facts or utterly ignorant of racing in his reported statements against the passage of the bill that seeks to preserve the sport in Dade County He has made extravagant statements that are utterly false and for that reason he is charged with either that dangerous ignorance or with malicious misstatement of facts factsIn In the report of a race meeting while opposing the racing Mr Milam is re ¬ ported jis urging that racing could be run without gambling and it is also re ¬ ported that he introduced figures to show that other cities had tried this and found it successful successfulPart Part of his quoted speech is It is not necessary to gamble to have racing Other cities enjoy the sport and thousands attend At most of these tracks there is no gambling and a horseman who favors gambling is not allowed on the track trackA A large percent of horsemen do not want gambling in connection with the races They know it kills the sport sportFollowing Following this Mr Milam is reported to have read figures and statements which he said were compiled by horse ¬ men and jockey club officials to prove his point In the first place exception is taken to Mr Milam using the word gambling when referring to betting on horse rac ¬ ing There is a wide difference between betting and gambling though it is pos ¬ sible that Mr Milam may not be aware of the fact in the light of his other state ¬ ments that could only impress those as ignortant of the sport as he is himself himselfWhen When he says that other cities support racing without the betting or gambling as he chooses to call it he is guilty of nothing but a plain misstatement of fact and it is impossible for him to name any city or any race meeting that was car ¬ ried on successfully without betting or a loss of money It is utterly false that any jockey club can show such successful meetings even though there have been sporadic efforts to conduct such every one of which was utterly unable to pay its way wayThere There never has been a fight to pre ¬ serve racing where it has been admitted that the sport would endure without the betting That is admitted but it is not admitted that betting on horse races is gambling no matter what form of betting is permitted It is absolutely essential to the success of any race meeting but it is not gambling and it never has been gambling It is not a game of chance and there never will be a law enacted anywhere that will stamp ont beting as long as there are two men with different opinions and a dollar apiece The man who backs his opinion whether it be on the result of an election a ball game a horse race or any other event is not a gambler and he is not gambling when he backs his opinion He is backing his knowledge against that of the other fel ¬ low and it is in no sense peculiar to horse racing alone aloneIt It might be that Mr Milam may have a wager on the result of the present fight in Florida though such men will seldom back up an opinion with cold cash cashBut But it all gets back to the old method of fighting the turf The campaign has never changed for from the beginning it has ever been one of ignorance intoler ¬ ance and malicious falsehood falsehoodThe The turf has nothing for which it has to offer an apology It should never be placed on the defensive and the burden of proof should be on those who would break it down but to oppose falsehood and ignorance the sport is almost in ¬ variably forced into the false position positionAt At the recent meeting of the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs there was a daily average distribution of 14915 in stake and purse money mak ¬ ing the total for the meeting 328137 figures that tell eloquently of the im ¬ portance of racing in Louisville And the tremendous importance of the Kentucky Derby is emphasized when it is shown that by reason of Whiskerys victory in the big race the New York turfman headed the winning list with total earn ¬ ings of 55555 Of this amount Whiskery accounted for 51000 when he led the Derby field home homeThat That amount was almost three times as much as the next nearest stable when H P Headleys horses accounted for 20954 And as the Derby gave the Whitney colors their proud place it was the Clark Handicap won by Helens Babe that contributed most of the Head ley winnings And it is fit and proper that these big turf values should mean just what they do There is an abundance of money dis ¬ tributed at every race meeting to make the racing profitable for the ordinary class horses and there always must be these big events as an incentive to breeders to produce champions and to turfmen to buy the best the market af ¬ fords It is races like the Kentucky Derby Preakness Stakes Belmoat Stakes Lawrence Realization and the various big offerings for twoyearolds that mean more to the yearling market than all of the other races put together for there never was a buyer that did not hope he was obtaining a possible champ ¬ ion just as there never was a breeder who did not hope to produce a champion out of every crop
