Clark Explains False Start: States Majority of Riders Saw Recall Flag but Failed to Pull Up Fearing Accident, Daily Racing Form, 1937-06-09

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CLARK EXPLAINS FALSE START States Majority of Riders Saw Recall Flag But Failed to Pull Up. Fearing Accident. TORONTO, Ont., June 8. Starter Tom Clark offers the following explanation of the false break which gave rise to the disturbance at Thorncliffe Park Saturday afternoon: "The field hadnt gone ten. feet before I realized that Lassies Mary was not at the gate. Ihad looked up and down the track to make sure that they" were all at the post. The lead pony was in the five and a half furlong chute. I know now that Lassies Mary was completely- hidden behind him, but I didnt see her then. The re-call flag was used at once. The flag for the start did not drop and, actually, it was no race. I notified the stewards at once and they ordered the race re-run."- Starter Clark questioned the riders when they came back for the re-run and the greater majority of them admitted seeing the re-call flag, but the leaders, fearful that by pulling up their mounts sharply they might cause them to stumble and probably fall, went on. "Every one of those boys Could have been fined for their failure to regard the flag," said Clark, "but, in viewof the conditions and knowing that they acted on the impulse of the moment with the safety of their fellow jockeys at heart, I didnt exercise that right."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1930s/drf1937060901/drf1937060901_37_8
Local Identifier: drf1937060901_37_8
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800