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i . , Here and There on the Turf On Turf Expansion Moral Issue Is Dead Eevenue Is a Reason Losing Sporting Idea ----- ----- .4 Just a few short years ago the extent of racing in the United States was confined to New York, Kentucky, Maryland and Louisiana, with the exception of minor meetings in a few other states. Wagering on the sport in these states as it was in New York and Louisiana was in spite of the law. Only Kentucky and Maryland legally permitted racing with its attendant betting, having thoroughly debated the moral issue and finding it unimportant as long as the sport was conducted in the proper manner. In addition to racing in these few states, the jort flourished in Canada during the summer, and Havana and Tijuana were able to support in excellent fashion long meetings during the winter. Even though the thoroughbreds were confined to a limited number of battle grounds to test their ability at that time, the amount of interest displayed in their activities was very little less than it is at present when two dozen states have legalized wagering on horse racing and several more are considering such action. The horses themselves have kept that interest alive, because they furnished a sport that was too appealing to red-blooded Americans to be limited to the borders of a few states. The large number of persons interested in racing demanded and received the opportunity to keep up with the doings of their favorite horses through the sport columns of daily newspapers, special publications and other services. Racing itself in these states has been kept down through the influence and efforts of the conservative element, which did not understand racing in the first place and didnt care to learn about it in the second. Gradually the prejudices were broken down to result in the expansion of the sport, although hardly the interest in it. Illinois came into the fold and the sport was successfully revived in Florida. Ohio also opened up for spasmodic racing. Then came the dire need for revenue to operate state governments and one commonwealth after 1 another passed laws legalizing wagering on horse races with more on the way. This " would not have been possible had not a good percentage of the population already main- . tained a considerable interest in the sport as "conducted elsewhere. touring the coming year the United States will have more racing than the number of horses available will be able to adequately take care of. This will result in an unfortun- 1 ate situation as those sections of the coun- " try with the denser areas of population will support their racing in a fashion to attract the majority of horses, leaving the other states to provide racing with insufficient : material. No effort is being made to equal- 1 ize the conditions all over the country by confining the sport so what there is of it can be kept at high class by the limited r number of horses. It apparently is the de- t "fcire of many states to get as much out of1! r t racing as they can in the quickest possible time. With such being the case, racing must Jose much of its sporting attraction.
