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H. B. SWOPE MAKES STATEMENT Public Should Decide Between Stall Gate and Australian Barrier Forecasts Big Season. NEW YORK, N. Y., April 3. In response to questions put to him today, Herbert Bayard Swope, chairman of the New York State Racing Commission, made the following statement: "New Yorks racing opens with bright promise this year. Throughout America racing is on a boom a healthy boom and New York is profiting by it "We like to believe, and there 13 basis for belief, that New York provides top racing. That has been true over a number of years and it will continue to be true, the judgment resting upon the caliber of the horses en-, gaged, the jockeys, trainers, stables, maintenance of form and general freedom from scandal. Those conditions are not the result of any one factor; they flow from the fact that those associated with the sport around here take their responsibilities seriously. In that my reference is to the producers rather than the regulators of the sport. "In this interview I speak for myself, especially when I say there are some questions still open. For example, the Australian gate. The Jockey Club has given its assent to experiment with that device and the commission has approved the experiment The tracks are at liberty to use the barrier, which they probably will do for two-year-old racing. STRICTLY UP TO THE PUBLIC. "Suggestion has been made that it might be even more effective were the tests to bo made with three-year-olds, which can be broken to the barrier easily. Perhaps one or two races a day could be programmed to start immediately in front of the stands. That would enable the public to see precisely how the gate works and to enable it to establish its preference or its disapproval, as between the Gray barrier and the stall gates. My own belief is that the public, which after all is the one to make the choice, should have full opportunity of passing judgment before its preference is expressed. "It is hoped that if not this year, then next year, there will not be a single race run in New York for less than ,000. Further, it is the intention of the commission not to . permit any undue prolongation of the guaranteed stakes. That is where the horsemen run for their own money. In a brief time we hope to have every stake of the added money type. "We think that the drugging evil Is under sharp check. Important experiments have been made all winter at our own laboratories which make the detection of any stimuli more certain and easier. The laboratory established by the commission is now used by Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New-Hampshire and Florida."
