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IDENTIFY BY "NIGHT EYES" California Discovers Equine Warty Growths Are Like Fingerprints. Thousands of Examinations Said to Have Proved Growths Are Never Alike — Drop Receiving Barn. LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 24— Inauguration of a new set of California horse racing rules involving the abolishment of the old-fashioned receiving barn and the adoption of a scientific system which will prevent "ringing" or tampering with horses, was hailed today by general manager J. F. Mackenzie of the Hollywood Turf Club as a boon to the racing industry at this stage. The new system, which features the best points of the methods in use on New York, Maryland and Kentucky tracks, plus recent and important developments by Californians, will be placed in use at Hollywood Park for the first time during the forty-four day turf meeting opening May 30. "The important departures have been proven conclusively in regard to their effectiveness, and the protection given both the public and horsemen alike will be a definite aid in keeping racing on a high plane in California," said Mackenzie. "The system will absolutely assure the public that only fit horses are racing. SEARCH REWARDED. "A positive and proven means of horse identification is one of the salient points of the new system," Mackenzie averred. "Since horse racing became popularized in America horsemen have been searching for some means of finger-printing horses to prevent ringing. This method has been discovered and proven infallible. "Thousands of examinations conducted secretly on horses at race tracks throughout the United States have revealed that no two of the warty growths on the legs, commonly known as night eyes or ergots/ are alike in size, contour or location. "These tests have proven beyond doubt that they are as positive a means of identifying horses as fingerprints are of identifying humans." Mackenzie said that under the new rules adopted by the California Horse Racing Board the "night eyes" will be maintained as part of the permanent "bertillon" records that will be kept of all horses allowed to go postward on California tracks. "Contrary to its intended purpose, the receiving barn did not adequately safeguard against doping, ringing and sponging," declared Mackenzie. "Furthermore it frequently was a detriment to the formful performance of temperamental or nervous horses, which often left their races in the receiving barn. " For several years California has been the only state retaining the obsolete receiving barn. Other states have long since abolished it because of its failure. J
