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y. -f Here and There on the Turf Earing a Big Asset Benefit to California Why New Orleans Failed Publicity Is Imperative i Florida and California are two progressive states which realize fully the value of horse racing. Louisiana is conspicuous by being one that doesnt. The great advertising ! which Miami thoroughbred competition has given Florida all through North America doubtless did much to bring about the passage of a favorable mutuel measure in the Pacific Coast state, as the two are arch-rivals in the struggle for winter tourist trade. Hialeah Park and Tropical Park have . attracted thousands to the Miami sector, and once there, they became captivated by its beauties. Without racing these folks never would have become regular visitors to the famous winter playground. The same promises to become true for California, where racing was resumed during the past winter. The state will make a sterner bid for the patronage of pleasure-seekers in the immediate future. Through the quality of the sport being offered within their borders, Florida and California are very much in the public eye for a four-month period, the daily doings of the thoroughbreds being thoroughly chronicled. How different it is in Louisiana, where Senator Huey Long is doing everything in his power to prevent word of New Orleans racing from being sent through the land, likewise placing a rigorous censorship on the local news of the Fair Grounds activities. The thoroughbreds are building up a steady winter patronage for Florida and California, while in New Orleans the sport has been stifled so that it has become of half-mile caliber. Horse racing is a considerable asset to any resort, not only in the money it brings there through owners, employes and regular followers of the turf, but also through the people it diverts in that direction by favorable publicity. Miami might be the great winter pleasure center it is today without the thoroughbreds, though one is inclined to doubt it. For this reason Floridians should do all within their power to aid in the spreading of news on their racing. There are many up North who like to have a flyer on their favorite horses when they are in action at either Hialeah Park or Tropical Park. If they couldnt maintain their interest through daily hazards with the commissioners in their neighborhood, is improbable they would have any great urge to journey southward for a few weeks of racing when the opportunity offered. The tracks not only would be the loser but the communities in which they are located also would suffer. The same holds true for California, where the daring of the Santa Anita promoters in offering a 00,000 stake gave the state attention in public print which it could not have bought for double that sum. Newspapers ever have an alert finger on the pulse of their readers. Circulation men know just what features sell their sheets and, naturally, cater to such a clientele in the news columns. If there wasnt a world of interest in racing there would be fewer sporting editions of evening papers in the big cities. Nor. would metropolitan journals send men all over the land to cover major meetings. Neither would there be as much space devoted to the sport as there is at present The public demands such information and the papers answer the call. However, would there be such demands if John Smith and his fellow Americans had no financial interest in the daily competitive activities of the racers? Deprive all their right to place a wager, unless they are at the track, and there would be far fewer requests for racing extras. Nor would the columns which are devoted to news of the sport in the regular editions receive as much attention. Quite naturally they would be cut greatly, with the trades receiving a very small percentage of the unpaid for lineage which is theirs today. All of which would be reflected in the lessened attendance at the various courses through the land. For theres nothing that brings out the customers for any sport like the "ballyhoo" attendant on them. The case of New Orleans is a sad one. Unless the restrictions Long has placed on turf news in the Crescent City are raised, racing at that point is doomed to an early death. The first blow to the sport in that world-famous city was struck by the adoption of the synthetic mutuels. This caused many hundreds of regulars to pass up the annual winter meetings. Then along came Florida with a more attractive climate, and offering a much higher purse average. Here was the second blow and the severest of all. The New Orleans tracks battled this opposition for a couple of years, being heartened when Hialeah Park did not open in 1928. The following winter activities were resumed at the Miami plant, and this sealed the doom of the Louisiana city as a big-time racing center. Bad as conditions were in New Orleans a few years ago, they are even worse now through one of Huey Longs latest and most pernicious laws against distribution of racing news. Tis well for the general health of the thoroughbred industry that other law makers have a greater vision and a higher regard for the privileges of their fellow-men than the autocratic Huey.
