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Here and There on the Turf Illinois Tracks Take Chance Badge Experiment Interesting Officials Maintain Vigilance Detroit Holding Its Pace With the Illinois Rasing Commission act Ing as surgeon the race tracks of the state underwent a major operation Wednesday for the removal of the complimentary ticket Arlington Park starting with its meeting on June 25 will be the first to test the suc ¬ cess of the operation Then will follow Haw ¬ thorne Lincoln Fields and Sportsmans Park to determine if the sport is to benefit from elimination of the free badge It is a seri ¬ ous if not noble experiment and managers of race tracks elsewhere in the country will 3 ay closer attention to Chicago racing for the remainder of the season seasonThere There always have been conflicting thoughts among race track officials regard ¬ ing the issuance of complimentaries In large numbers Several prominent promoters have long followed the idea that the success of a track depended on getting the people there eve if necessary to send a hack after them An equal probably larger number of officials have always taken a firm stand against giving away free tickets and badges in large numbers although they were not adverse to passing out a few in what they thought was discriminate fashion New York is not to be considered in this comparison of states where tickets are given freely and where they are not because the metropolitan tracks always have had to depend on the gate for their income At the tracks deriving income from the parimUtu els the Annie Oakley situation has been very rnuch of a problem In Maryland the asso ¬ ciations have been very careful about giving away badges and the racing there has beeri maintained cm a solid foundation although not necessarily from this one condition conditionIn In Illinois the tracks got into the habit of giving away passes here and there and the practice gained so much momentum that the various officials felt something had to be done to bring about a halt The racing commission was appealed to and obliged by issuing a ruling that only those persons exempt from paying the state tax on tickets could be granted free admission to the tracks Whether the commission had the power to take such action doesnt seem to have been taken under consideration Com ¬ plimentaries have been ruled out and now It is up to the racing associations to eat the stew theyve concocted concoctedMore More than likely the various Chicago asso ¬ ciations would rather have retained the privilege of giving out badges in a discrim ¬ inate fashion but if they were to attack the pass evil at all they had to do it with the idea of making no exceptions As a conse ¬ quence some persons will be deprived of passesiwho maybe entitled to them although they do not come under the terms of the commission ruling but the tracker officials felt they just couldnt help themselves if they were to do anything about the pass situation Now that the special privilege has been eliminated from Chicago tracks it behooves the managements to do all they can to give the public sport that is worth paying for That close vigilance is being maintained to prevent the stimulation of horses is indi ¬ cated from time to time by action against guilty horsemen The cases are growing fewer and farther between which is a healthy sign but there still seem to be some trainers or stable attaches foolish and brainless enough to take a chance on stimulating horses However this practice has been to all intents and purposes stamped out No longer will the public have to worry about this horse or that having his tea Once they fully recognized the evil the racing officials have done a thprough job of curing one of the sports most Dangerous cancers cancersAll All notion that the Detroit meeting would end if only temporarily at conclusion of the present term is dissipated with the announcement of the stakes to be run dur ¬ ing the second fortyday period Nothing elaborate Is on the second program but it is made up of eight events carrying a value of 2500 each and this arrangement should be sufficiently attractive to hold many sta ¬ bles at the Motor City course despite the richer stakes offered during most of the same period by Arlington Park and Rock inghamPark Many stables went to Detroit just so they could stay at one point thrpugtir out the summer and they will remain satis ¬ fied as long as the purse values are main ¬ tained at their present level or Increased
