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STABILITY OF OUR RACING Well Emphasized in Annual Report of New York Racing Commission Submitted to Legislature. ALBANY, N. Y., May 4— Secretary of State Michael F. Walsh today filed his annual report with Governor Lehmann and the legislature. It reveals that the report he received from the state racing commission accounted for the conduct of horse race meetings during 1938, and submitted by chairman Herbert Bayard Swope, who reports a survey of the racing year just concluded, the fifth in which, in this jurisdiction, the sport has been under the control of the New York State Racing Commission, indicates that racing has begun to attain that status of stability for which all forward-looking supporters of the turf have been seeking. Comparison of conditions today in New York with those of five years ago warrants this statement. The year just closing found a 150 per cent increase in attendance over 1933 — more than 240 per cent increase in receipts and similar increases in the other, categories. EXPECTED TO FLOURISH. In its financial aspect, certainly both In New York and in the country at large, the sport would appear to have reached a level of public appeal and patronage at which it may be expected to flourish henceforward without striking variation from year to year, unless there be political convulsions, which seem improbable. No racing state, New York included, showed a great leap in 1938 in either attendance or earnings over its preceding season, although substantial gains were recorded. The general condition of racing has never been so high in respect to quality of horses, generosity of purses, increases in breeding and ownership or esteem in which the American thoroughbred is held throughout the world. Important reforms have been adopted, with New York playing an important part. Their establishment has tended to lift racing to new planes of stability and integrity. Sales of American young stock have attracted distinguished patronage from abroad, and notable achievements of American horses on foreign courses have drawn international attention to the soundness of breeding and training in this country. The registration of yearlings with The Jockey Club shows a gain of 500 over any preceding year. For the year New York racing paid a total tax of 95,858.70, which is the highest it has ever paid, though the increase was only ,153.49 over the 86,707.21 of 1937.
