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. I REVOKE SYRACUSE RACING LICENSE! ♦ New York Commission Punishes Onondaga Racing Association for Use of "Option" System as Employed at Recent Meeting and Declared Illegal by Attorney-General • NEW YORK, N. Y., July 23.— At a meeting of the New York Racing Commission the license of the Onondaga Racing Association was revoked in punishment for having used the option system at its recent Syracuse meeting. Following is the ruling handed down: "In pursuance of notification to the Onondaga Racing Association that it appear before the New York state commission to show cause why a license to hold a racing , meeting at Syracuse should not be revoked, Leo Dandurand, representing the Onondaga j I I I Racing Association, appeared before the ! i commission at its offices at 155 Worth , Street at 3 oclock Friday afternoon, July I 20, 1934. Testimony was taken as to the use 1 Of the share and option system employed by the management of the Onondaga Rac- I ] ing Association at the meeting held from ! j : July 4 to July 14, inclusive. It was not de- | nied by Mr. Dandurand that the option system had been installed and operated by the Onondaga Racing Association. This system was declared illegal and a violation of the criminal statutes by Attorney-General John J. Bennett, Jr.s ruling of July 9. Upon that ruling the state racing commission had notified the Onondaga Racing Association that the system must be abandoned, and further, under the direct instructions of Governor Lehman, had notified the district attorney and the sheriff of Onondaga County of the attorney-generals ruling and of the gov-| ernors instructions that these officials take action to prevent further violation of the law. Other testimony with respect to breaches of the rules of racing was adduced. Acting under Section 8, Chapter 440, Laws of 1926, as amended by Chapters 233 and 310, Laws of 1934, the New York State Rac- ing Commission announces the revocation and cancellation of the license granted on Continued on twenty-fifth page. P I I i REVOKE SYRACUSE LICENSE Continued from first page. June 13, 1934, to the Onondaga Racing Association to hold race meetings at Syracuse, to take effect as of this date. By order of the New York State Racing Commission. HERBERT BAYARD SWOPE, Chairman. JOHN HAY WHITNEY, JOHN F. SHEVLIN, Acting Secretary. In connection with the official announcement of the revocation of the Onondaga Racing Association, which prohibits the second meeting, scheduled for September 15 to September 29, inclusive: Herbert Bayard Swope, chairman of the commission, speaking for himself and Mr. Whitney, said: "The commission was reluctant to take such a drastic step, but it found itself left with no alternative. Extended inquiries, the results which were presented at a three-hour session held at the commissions office, showed that the criminal statutes of the state, as well as the laws of racing, had been violated by the Onondaga Racing Association, of which Mr. Leo Dandurand and Mr. Joseph Cattarinich are ninety-nine per cent owners. "At the time the license was granted, counsel for the association and Mr. Dan-durands personal representative, Mr. Thomas Gorman, gave assurances that every phase of the laws would be complied with and the commissions instructions fully carried out. The day preceding the opening of the race meeting, July 3, Marshall Cassidy, chief steward of the commission, who had been sent to Syracuse to survey the situation, reported to the commission that the option system was to be employed. This is a close approach to the pari-mutuels, which under the present laws of the state are forbidden by statutory and constitutional en-uctment. "The Onondaga Association was warned that the system contemplated was in direct violation of the law. However, the method was begun and persisted in until the close of Thursday, July 11. Then, after a renewed warning from the. commission, in addition to a notification from the district attorney from Onondaga County, the illegal system was stopped. "The commission, which had sitting with it Assistant Attorney-General Joseph M. Mosnig, gave Mr. Dandurand, who alone appeared for the defendant association, full opportunity to be heard. The members of the commission reached their decision after careful deliberation. We are convinced that, with racing in New York only newly reestablished, it would be countenancing a heavy blow against the sport were the methods employed by the Onondaga group to be tolerated. This is especially true in the light of the assurances given the commission at the time the license was issued as to the conduct of the meeting. "Both Mr. Whitney and I desire racing extended as widely as possible throughout the state. We feel that this can be best done when it is conducted upon not too commercialized a plane. This does not mean that we expect the racing association to be philanthropic enterprises, but it does mean that the commission is opposed to any group Which comes into the state solely for t the purpose of earning dividends, regardless I of methods employed to that end. In addition to being opposed to complete commercialism, the commission has set up four points to be considered in the granting of licenses for new courses. They are: 1 real opportunity for the sport to develop; 2 avoidance of unnecessary competition with j established tracks; 3 genuine and forthright community support for the promotion and continuance of the track; 4 the char-I acter and reputation of the men identified I with the undertaking. "If Syracuse really wants racing we want I Syracuse to have it, but we feel sure that 1 Syracuse and every other right thinking j community in the state wants racing only I in accordance with the laws as laid down I and which, only a few months ago, were I amended in a manner so favorable to the . sport that it requires the utmost efforts on the part of all interested in it to discharge properly the new responsibilities."
