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f ....... , ...... ,,,-,- -1 : Picking Up the Wreckage : By SALVATOR. . 4 At intervals since the rise of winter racing, and most pertinently the semi-phenomenal heights it has attained at Santa Anita and Hialeah, I have commented, in the columns of Daily Racing Form, upon the fact that it was creating a state of "imbalance" in turf affairs; and that this, if it proceeded, was going to create a situation throughout the sport that would be difficult to correct and in the end might be a very considerable liability. The crux of the matter, of course, lies in the two gigantic money prizes which are the grand offerings at these two meetings the 00,000 Santa Anita and the 0,000 Wide-ner Handicaps. Their lure has proved so irresistible that practically every pretentious handicap horse in training has been entered for -one or the other, while many have been named in both, the decision which to try for being reserved by their owners and trainers until shortly before the races were run. It has been pointed out that the date of running these two famous stakes during the first week of March makes it necessary to keep them in training, in effect, all winter. This after their having been trained and raced all the previous regular season not only, but the previous winter as well, when they had already been contenders for the mammoth or other prizes. RUINOUS POLICY. The affirmation was made that such a policy was bound, in the end, to be ruinous insofar as horseflesh was concerned, for it was impossible that it could undergo such a strain without paying a heavy penalty. That this penalty extended beyond the horses themselves, as per natural consequence, it drained the regular season of the services of those which succumbed to the winter campaign and its effects. Leaving, as scarce needs be stressed, fields of an impaired quality to contend for the stake events of the spring, summer and fall though it was really this latter part of the year which had to bear the burden of carrying on the American turf as a great national sport, providing by far the major portion of its annual calendar. The correctness of this assertion is illustrated by the great tabulation in the new American Racing Manual for 1939, which gives see pages 531-538, inclusive the statistics upon all race meetings held in North America in 1938. From them the following condensed recapitulation emerges: Total amount of money raced for; 1938 4,946,609 Amount distributed at winter meetings 2,787,630 Amount distributed during regular season 12,158,997 , CLASS OF MEETINGS. Under the classification of winter meetings have been included Santa Anita, Tanforan, Havana, Hialeah, Tropical Park, New Orleans Fair Grounds, Phoenix, Agua Caliente and Charles Town; and only meetings which ran during the months of December to March. All meetings have been excluded which were really spring meetings, such as those at Oaklawn Park, Bay Meadows, etc. Bay Meadows ran from March 19 to April 23, and Oaklawn Park from February 28 to April 2. The Tropical Park meeting, which ran from March 7 to April 9, was also excluded as not really belonging to the winter campaign, for the regular non-winter season opens April 1 as a rule and closes at Bowie the last week of November which, by the way, was quite wintry in Maryland in the year of grace 1938!. These figures disclose the fact that despite the dazzling progress of events at the great winter meetings we must depend upon the ners over four-fifths of the amount they will earn during the year. It is also upon the regular season that we must depend to keep the public interested and entertained during eight months of the twelve, and the period when unless a semi-tropical climate favors, as in Florida and California sports lovers can find pleasure in racing. Other facts which bring this out very clearly may be drawn from the returns upon the number of races run annually, as reported in the Manual. During 1938, the grand total for North America was 16,243, of which 3,011 were r at the winter Meetings above segregated, and 13,232 at the meetings of the regular season. In other words, over four times as many at the latter as at the former. CHANGE IN ROUTINE. It is often difficult to adjust ourselves to marked changes in what has been the regular routine in the conduct of any great and far-flung enterprise or organization. This is especially true of racing. Until within the past five years, there was no real competition or rivalry between the regular season and the winter meetings. On the contrary, the latter were looked upon as a very distinct complement of the former, which "kept the game going" for the benefit of the run-of-mine racing contingsnt during the annual hibernation of the better class horses which were only campaigned during the regular season. That condition is now a thing of the past, for there are few of our leading owners and trainers who do not at present race either their entire stables or a select division of them, including their very best horses, at Santa Anita and Hialeah. With the result that when the regular season comes along, its promoters must look with rueful faces and feelings upon the casualties which have robbed their meetings of many of the best horses that they had hoped would appear, while many others that did not fall within the categories of killed, wounded and missing, though trudging along, have lost their glamour, as well as their pristine earning capacity, and no longer have any great attraction for the public. This has been true of each succeeding season since the change came about, but never before so true as right now, when we look back upon the mass of wreckage that the two great California and Florida meetings have left behind them. Just to give an idea of this, here is a brief check-list of the more prominent horses that succumbed to their attempts to win the two great winter prizes: CASUALTY LIST. Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Stagehand, Es-posa, Marica, Dauber, Count Arthur, Flying Scot, Ligaroti, Magic Hour, Star Shadow, Sun Egret, Lawrin, Mucho Gusto and Roguish Girl. These fifteen horses are just a selection of those which have been reported sent to the sidelines. Such was the devastation at Hialeah that only seven horses turned out for its 0,000 race and several of these were last-minute forlorn and very forlorn hopes induced to pay the starting fee through the falling by the wayside of War Admiral. At Santa Anita sixteen starters were mustered, and there again the number was very . considerably swelled by the break-down of Seabiscuit and his last-minute removal from the picture. It may be said with considerable color of certainty that the field for each race was much lower in class than the entry list had originally seemed to warrant. Of the fifteen horses listed above, it is already known that a number will be unable to race again this season, if ever. Several have been retired to the stud, their turf careers ended. The others will probably be seen during the regular season now upon us, but just what we may expect from them remains problematical. Of the entire lot it would seem that we have a right to expect most from War Admiral whose disablement was due to a temporary sickness, which, it is now believed, will not leave any permanent effects. This will be fortunate, for he can do much to save the regular season If he reaches his best form. Otherwise, just at present, it looks as if it was going to be hard pressed to produce the kinds of fields, for its premier all-aged events, that their traditions require.
