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PASS NEW JERSEY LAW I u Three Tracks and 105 Racing Days I Believed Limit. May Stage Meeting at Atlantic City 1 i y in Fall — Hertz and Wright Are Mentioned as Track Builders. TRENTON, N. J., June 21.— New Jersey has legalized pari mutuel betting on horse racing and the machinery is already in motion to pass an enabling act, which will set up a racing commission. Within a month or six weeks tracks will be licensed and, for the first time in more than forty years, one of the original racing states will return to the fold. Yesterdays special election, which cost New Jersey about 00,000, resulted in the amendment being passed by a majority of 156,994 votes. The total cast for pari-mutuels was 459,646, and against 302,652. Nine counties, Atlantic, Burlington, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Passaic favored the bill. Mayor Frank Hagues promised majority of 110,000 in Hudson county actually was almost 134,000. By this election. New Jersey racing not only becomes a matter of fact, but the gubernatorial aspirations of Rev. Leslie Clee, who led the attack on pari-mutuels, seems at an end. Former governor Harold j Hoffman, it is predicted, will probably succeed the present incumbent, Governor A. Harry Moore in 1940. CUTTING UP THE MELON. . : With the passage of the amendment, all will not be a bed of roses in the state house b at Trenton. Last night, for instance, the I ! leaders held at which republican a caucus [ | the matter of "cutting up" what will come i out of racing presumably got under way. Efforts will be made to take from Gov- j i ernor Moore the right to appoint a three- | | I man or a five-man racing commission. The j i legislature wants to keep this so-called plum j I for itself. ! If the original racing front, meaning the New Jersey Horse Racing Amendment Association, keeps its promise to Mayor Hague, Moore will have the right to appoint. The J tradition of such appointments in New Jersey ~ has been broken only twice, with the establishment of a one-man alcoholic bever age commission after repeal of prohibition and the appointment of a state comptroller. It is generally believed that, despite every [ obstacle the legislature will throw in the way of the minority democrats, the original l plans for New Jersey racing will go through 1 and that men like Amory L. Haskell, of Red ! Bank; Joseph M. Roebling, of Trenton; Wil- - I liam F. Cane, of Hackensack; Reeve Schley, • j ! i of Far Hills, all of whom are traditionally f j horse-minded, will virtually write the rules s and regulations for New Jersey racing. MINIMUM PURSE 00. Briefly, these regulations will provide for r a three-man commission, a rigid stand on no ! more than three one-mile tracks, nor more than 105 racing days; probably five percent t of the play to go to the state, fifteen percent t tax on admissions, a split of the breakage with the state and track operators sharing alike; a nominal license fee for all tracks, I and a minimum purse of 00 per race. Yesterdays election does not become official - until July 11. By that time the legislature ■" and other forces interested will have e Continued on thirty-ninth page. v * PASS NEW JERSEY LAW Continued from first page. - L_ reached a decision on major points. It is possible that the first meeting under the new law will be held in Atlantic City in the fall. Plenty of names have already been mentioned for the few places on the racing commission. They include Haskell. Cane, Roeb-ling. | Schley, William F. Burke, of Union City; Colonel Evan Kimble, of Vineland; 1 Harry Hackney, of Atlantic City; Brigadier General Edward Rose, of Red Bank; Briga- i dier General Lewis Ballantyne, Newark; former United States Senator John Milton, of Jersey City; Lloyd Marsh, of Passaic: t Jimmy Cromwell, of Somerville, and one or a two others. Cane, Burke and Hackney s formed the racing commission without racing in 1933 38. s TEX GROUPS IN FIELD. ] While no licenses for a track can be con- 1 sidered until the commission is appointed, al- c ready there are rumors of at least ten J groups being in the field. Even a license for the old Trenton half-mile track is talked of but the chances of this track are slim. Bids r are expected from Camden, Atlantic City, f Monmouth County, Bergen and Hudson s counties and possibly the North Jersey area, f which borders on Easton, Pa. a From the best information available, it i seems that the tracks operating in 1940 will ! be located as follows: Bendix Airport, in j-| Bergen county, five miles from the Jersey a j side of the George Washington Bridge; Elk- r I wood Park, Oceanport, Monmouth County, r and on the main, and at Atlantic City near Ventner. There has been talk of a track in ! I Jersey City, below the Pulaski Skyway. It is j believed that Mayor Hapue will not want a track in Hudson county — and he is the law there, as proved by a 134,000 majority yesterday. ° of As to the probable ownership of those n tracks report has it that the Bendix track v will be built by Vincent Bendix, brake man- s ufacturer, with John Hertz, Warren Wright P and others. There is a persistent feeling that c the one North Jersey track, no matter where * " it is placed, will have a wad of Hudson coun- ty money invested. v MONMOLTH PARK TRACK. " The surest set up of the moment is the ° Monmouth Park track. The corporation has M long been known as the MonmouLh Park n ■ Racing Development Corporation. When lie- s ensed, it will be called the Monmouth Park Racing Association. It will not operate at si the historic Monmouth Park but the plant n will be constructed at Elkwood Park. Before c the turn of the century this track was owned it M and operated for one year by the late Oscar Lewisohn. Leading spirits in the current cor- Cl poration are Haskell, Roebling, Schley, Ernest Shaw and a few others. In the event a that one or more are named to the racing t commission, they could have no connection A with the track. e Plans have long been drawn for this plant tl and it is the opinion of the group that the ir in ° M n s si n c it M Cl a t A e tl ir in old track at Elkwood could be made ready within a month for racing. The stands will hold 15,000, there will be ample parking space and accessibility by railroad is excellent. The Pennsylvania and Jersey Central systems pass the track site which has a natural lake in the infield. A steeplechase course is planned inside the mile track and will get plenty of use for the Monmouth Park to be is in the heart of the hunt country. The Atlantic City track will be owned according to reliable information, by totalizator people, Charles Munn and L. M. Strauss Atlantic City fdlk interested in it are Hugh Riddle and Bennett E. Tousely, president of the state hotel mens association. Plans are the formative stage for this track.
