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Here and There on the Turf N. Y. Mutuels Get Heavy Blow. Delayed at Least a Year j Bright Light Is Moving Up j Azucar Seeks Dixie Handicap I New York cannot have pari-mutuel betting in 1936, which would have been possible had the legislature now in session passed the resolution to alter the state constitution to permit this kind of wagering. The resolution had no difficulty in the 1934 session at Albany, but some of those senators favoring it a year ago have had a change of mind. Defeat of the resolution by the senate the other day by a vote of sixteen ayes against thirty-one noes was very decisive, especially when considering the ease with which it was passed a year ago. Even Sen. John J. Twomey, who introduced the measure, voted against it, but of those who remained consistent Sen. John J. Dunnigan not Only approved of it but spoke for its passage. The Bronx legislator is in a position of being racings best friend in Albany. Adoption of the resolution by both the senate and house would have had the effect of putting it on the ballot at the November election, and with its approval by the people, the constitution would have been altered to permit the legality of a bill providing pari-mutuel betting. Legislative sponsors of the open betting now in vogue, of whom Sen. James J. Crawford is very prominent, evidently are of a mind not to risk their chances any longer and their drive to prevent progress of the pari-mutuel resolution has been strong enough to halt advancement of the measure. Whether the resolution can be approved in 1936 and then be submitted to the people, the writer is not well enough acquainted with parliamentary procedure to say. That New York racing is to continue, at least through 1936, with open, betting in vogue will please a majority of The Jockey Club leaders and many directors of the metropolitan tracks. They believe racing has a better chance to exist for all time with betting restricted as it is under this form than with the pari-mutuels in use. Joseph E. Widener, who has been able to gain first-hand knowledge of what can be done with a race track from the receipts derived from a satisfactory pari-mutuel business, has been the leading advocate of this method among Jockey Club leaders. Time will show whether metropolitan racing can hold its high position against the competition of mutuel tracks, and very probably it will as long as the number of prominent New York stables remains as large as it is. These establishments are prepared to operate for sports sake only, and will take a loss even though the inducements on the metropolitan circuit are not as great as they may be elsewhere. The manner in which Bright Light performed at Bowie may cause some persons to wonder if the Shandon Farm Stable, maintained by the Nash brothers, Dick and Pat, of Chicago, possesses another such juvenile as Burning Blaze was in 1931 when he won the rich Post and Paddock Stakes, now the Arlington Futurity, also the Eastern Shore Handicap and Richard Johnson Stakes, bright Light, a bay son of Sun Flag and Dark Hour, bred at the Nash farm in Kentucky, was only able to win a claiming race, at Hialeah Park, this being his first start, but in competing against the best .youngsters in Florida he displayed steady improvement. In the Hialeah Juvenile Championship Stakes he was a strong finishing third back of Wise Duke and Delib- erator, being beaten less than a length. That time has improved Bright Light is indicated by his Bowie efforts, of which there were two. In the firsthe came from behind the pace to gain a length victory over Lookabout, running the half mile over a dull course in :48and. Then in the Bowie Kindergarten Stakes, with the track muddy, he led all the way over the half-mile route to cleverly defeat Parade Girl, Distract, Wise Duke and others. Wise Duke was a stout favorite, but he failed to race to expectations while continuing to display the greenness which characterized his three performances at Hialeah Park. Asa result of his improved form, Bright Light appears a strong prospect for the ,500 added Aberdeen Stakes, which is to be renewed during the present Havre de Grace meeting. De-librator is expected to be one of his principal opponents in this dash of four and a half furlongs, a distance appealing more to Bright Light than the routes of his previous efforts. Azucar, which gained much fame for himself and cash for his owner, Fred Alger, Jr., of Detroit, in winning the Santa Anita Handicap, is nov on his way to Pimlico to await the running of the Dixie "Handicap, the Maryland Jockey Clubs principal event for older horses: Azucar has: recovered from the cuts he received right after the Santa Anita when he became tangled up with broadcasting wires and broadcaster Clem McCarthy and he should "be able to make ready for the Dixie. He die not bow a tendon at Santa Anita as has !been .rumored. Lex Wilson, who has Azucar in charge, has intimated that Azucar would be back at the Los Angeles course next winter for the second running of the Santa Anita Handicap and if this is the case the former jumper will not be sent to Liverpool for the Grand National Steeplechase. While a good steeplechaser in this country, Azucar took too many chances with his jumps, something that would level him quickly at the Aintree course. Mort Mahony, the prominent eastern mutuel man, says the success of Bowies meeting, despite the muddy track prevailing during most of the eleven days, must be attributed to the great popularity of the "Daily Double," which made its first appearance in Maryland this spring. Havre de Grace will not have the "Double" and it is our belief its meeting will be just as successful in comparison as was that at Bowie, thereby proving that the "Daily Doubles" great popularity, was not entirely the reason for the profitable meet. We have suggested before that less publicity be paid to mutuel totals and averages with more attention being given racing.
