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ID SOULES VANTAGE TOWERS New Patrol Judges Stands a Vast Improvement Universal Adop ¬ tion Believed Likely Clem McCarthy calls them the new Soula stands for patrol judges but Edmund C Soule presiding steward at Hollywood Park prefers to have them known as observation towers Call them what you will they seem destined to become universally ac ¬ knowledged as the outstanding mechanical contribution to the turf in 1938 The towers enabling officials to scrutinize the running of races and put their fingers on riders guilty of roughing are comparable to such advancements as the cameraized finish the totalizator and the starting gate in the opinion of astute observers observersThe The towers are so placed as to enable the patrol judges to look right down into a field of galloping horses Heretofore the patrol judges were placed on the outside of the track the same as the stewards which meant that they always observed the horses from the side or obliquely But Ed Soules invention enables these offlcals to see be ¬ tween the horses while the field is approach ¬ ing their points of vantage in the observa ¬ tion towers and to follow them on past the horses continuing on almost in a straight line of vision visionThe The advantage gained in the manner of accurate intelligent observation of the run ¬ ning is similar to that enjoyed by the um ¬ pire in a baseball game who must stand immediately behind the home plate in order to accurately judge the route of the ball in its flight If the umpire were to stand eight or ten feet to the right or left of the plate his calling of balls and strikes would be largely guesswork Similarly the old meth ¬ od of placing patrol judges made it im ¬ possible for them to see clearly that all horses in a field were keeping a straight path and to know the cause of swerving crowding blocking or crossing CROWS NEST NESTFrom From these miniature battleship crows nests the patrol judges looking through or into a field instead of across it are able to see whether a jockey is permitting a horse to lag or letting it run its head off in the first half mile or hiding it behind an i other horse And such things as saddle grabbing leg locking bridle snatching and the like can be spotted so easily and clearly that they are certain to be abandoned for ¬ ever by even the most reckless rider riderBay Bay Meadows is understood to have adopt ¬ ed the new type of stands and Soule recently received a letter from Arlington Park Chicago requesting full details so it seems probable the towers may shortly be universally adopted The stands are made of different sized gas pipe and painted green They blend into the grass arid shrubbery of the infield and are scarcely noticeable There is therefore no objection to their installa ¬ tion insofar as defacing the horticultural scheme is concerned concernedDuring During my experience for two seasons at Santa Anita as steward I learned that the patrol judge stands were too near the start ¬ ing gate They were also too low One could clearly see only the infield horses and could hot follow them down the stretch as they were somewhat obscured by the dust which is usually kicked up by a field of horses The stands which I devised for Hollywood Park places the head of the observer six ¬ teen feet above the ground so that he can see down between the horses both while the field is approaching and receding and this without the handicap of dust as the observr ers vantage point is elevated above the ob ¬ scuring cloud Similarly the starting gate or any other object that goes to make up background which may interfere with the patrol judges vision is removed from the focal point pointFOUR FOUR TOWERS TOWERSAt At Hollywood Park we arranged for four of the towers placing one at each end of the two straight running rails that is one at each corner just before the turn is started The tower at the five and onehalffurlong pole is especially advantageous for a judge watching the horses coming out of the chute at the threequarters start Another is placed at the threesixteenths pole at the head of the stretch being onesixteenth of a mile in advance of the mile and onequarter start I believe a tower should be placed onesix ¬ teenth of a mile ahead of each starting gate which gives the steward at the start or a judge who may occupy it a perfect view of the horses coming out of the starting gate and of any interference that may take place The steward at the start and the patrol judges alternate on these stands If the steward takes the seat in advance of each start the patrol judge moves down to the next stand in the stretch stretchThere There is a circular arm rest at the top of the stand which affords a perfect founda ¬ tion for steadying binoculars binocularsTo To sum up the judges are enabled for the first time to look down into the start in ¬ stead of at a racing field They are there ¬ fore in a position to know positively whether a horse in trying to get through was really justified in making the attempt whether he had sufficient room when he started his spurt or whether he was pincher out by a swerving horse piloted by a jockey who engineered the swerve swerveSoule Soule has the best interest of the sport at heart He has not patented the stands He wants no royalties or bonuses And he will gladly furnish specifications to any track that may wish to install them
