Here and There on the Turf: Accurate Timing Aids Public Special Agent Good Colt Whitney Picked Out Motto Halt Placed on Halter Men, Daily Racing Form, 1934-07-11

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iHereTwl I on the Turf Accurate Timing Aids Public Special Agent Good Colt Whitney Picked Out Motto Halt Placed on Halter Men A -- ■■■■■■»-»»■»»■-■--■-■■-■■ »4 Hawthorne, whose meeting follows Arlington Parks on the Chicago circuit, plans a new wrinkle in the timing of races — the eleqtric eye. The electrical timing clock, which has been used at the Cicero course for several years, will again be in operation but with the additions of the infra-red ray. This is what is known as the electric-eye and will be located at both the starting points and finish. When a horse breaks the ray the clock will be started with the impulse. And when the first horse breaks the ray at the finish the electrical timing piece will be stopped. Such a scheme does not permit errors and It does away with the human equation. As a consequence there can be no doubt as to the accuracy of such timing. This is what thousands of racing fans who do* their own handicapping, in which speed is the basic principle, have been waiting for. No longer will they wonder if the track timer had a bad day, but rather they can work on their figures with unlimited confidence. Quite a few associations in this country have failed to give the timing of races proper consideration. They did not realize how much importance is attached to timing by a large percentage of the horse players. If Hawthornes electrical-eye is successful, which it probably will be, other tracks may do well to adopt it or a similar device. Col. Robert A. Smith displayed a very promising two-year-old to the Chicago racing public Monday when he sent out the Brookmeade Stables Special Agent to defeat a number of other promising youngsters. Continued on ninth page. HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. This colt, a brown son of Sir Gallahad III. and Malvina B., won by five lengths after having stepped the five and a half furlongs in 1:06. What was most impressive about his performance was the manner in which he drew away from his opposition in the stretch. New York race-goers had a glimpse of Special Agent at Belmont Park in a dash through the Widener chute in which he had speed right to within a few yards of the finish where he faltered and was unplaced. There was no faltering about Special Agent in his Arlington Park debut. Mack Garner, who by the way bobbed up with a triple during the afternoon, had the Sir Gal-lahad III. colt well in hand around the turn ♦ as the favorite. Born Happy, made the pace. When Garner called on Special Agent he came away in a fashion that win stakes as well as overnight events. As a result of . his smart efforts this colt shapes up as the Brookmeade Stables outstanding candidate for the 0,000 Arlington Futurity, two weeks hence. Special Agent promises to be among the higher priced yearlings of the 1933 sales to make good. He cost ,500, Smith outbidding John Marsch, whose trainer is Jack McPherson. The latter raced Malvina B. and knew she was a capable mare. Cornelius Whitney, whose Motto is the leading two-year-old money winner to date by virtue of victories in the Arlington Lassie Stakes and Fashion Stakes at Belmont Park, deserves all the credit for selecting the daughter of Sir Gallahad III. and Maxima, for which he paid Marshall Field 00 at the Saratoga auctions last August. Although the sportsman has no need of buying thoroughbreds in the open market, his fancy was struck by this trim-looking filly as he looked over the various yearling consignments. He had his trainer, Thomas J. Healey, inspect the filly, and with that experts recommendation forthcoming, Whitney bid for the youngster. If she does nothing more in racing, , she will have proved a rare bargain. As had been expected after a large number of trainers in Chicago had protested the promiscuous claiming of horses, the Illinois Racing Commission modified its rule governing ; such races. Under the new regulations no I I person may claim a horse unless he ha3 i ! j horses registered at that particular track, , I | and after the first week of the meeting the s person making the claim must have had a i starter at the track. This provision and the I one which forbids horses that were claimed | to race elsewhere during the term of the ; meeting at which they were claimed prevents I a person from taking a horse and shipping I him elsewhere. The new rule also gives the l stewards arbitrary power to declare any H | claim void. Thus they can stop injustice to i j an owner who has spent considerable time J | I and money in getting a horse into topnotch i | | condition without having the opportunity to j | capitalize his efforts. =


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1930s/drf1934071101/drf1934071101_2_2
Local Identifier: drf1934071101_2_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800