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COL MATT J WINN REFLECTIONS By CHALLENGER Col Matt Winn Speaks His Mind Veteran Gives Views on Taxation Ben Lindheimer a Busy Executive Striving to Improve Chicago Turf Before the running of the Steger Handicap won by Kings Blue we sat in the Lincoln Fields office of Col Matt J Winn and listened as that veteran told of bygone days and also gave his opinions and ideas of the modernday turf The colonel said If back in 1913 anyone had told me I would live to see racing the gigantic proposition it is today I would have told them they were crazy During the course of the conver ¬ sation we asked Colonel Winn what he thought would happen if now that Florida had raised the take to fifteen per cent the government went through with the proposal as rumored of an additional ten per cent He frowned for a second then slowly said I do not believe that the government will ever do that True they have been looking nssible means of taxation But those in power in Washington are well advised by competent committees and they are not going to pass any legisla ¬ tion in my opinion which would virtually be the deathknell of racing and breeding in this country Just as in England the people must have an outlet for pentup emotions and what better medium could be found than a sport which by its very growth has proven its popularity Re ¬ member as never before horse racing is the sport of the people all people from those who spend from 50 cents in the bleachers to those who spend 250 for a box at the Kentucky Derby Colonel winn did not limit his re ¬ marks to the track in which he was interested or to any particular locality On occasions he reminded us he was merely expressing his per ¬ sonal views He thinks the day must soon come when the public will de ¬ mand bigger and more modern race plants He believes Florida an ideal winter racing resort but says Gover ¬ nor Holland is inconsisitent in rais ¬ ing the take and then in the next breath airs his views against the government adding more taxation Racing should support the govern ment and the president to the utmost he said We should be prepared to meet every demand of our government insofar as sharing the profits are con ¬ cerned the colonel continued but it would be both shortsighted and foolish to tax the sport to the point where the structure would be incapable of standing the strain Let the sport give yes until it hurts but let those who understand the problems explain the dangers of overtaxation The government desires to build up not tear down and I think Washington officials realize now that horse racing could share its actual profits but should not be taxed to the degree where profit would no longer be possible Let us stand solidly behind the president but let us also protect the peoples sport Matt Winn is a picture of health as he sits at his desk He is as mentally alert as he was when we first knew him twenty years ago With the constant growth of the Derby we reminded him he had a problem on his hands in the immediate years to come at Churchill Downs He smiled as he opened a panoramic view of Churchill Downs on Derby Day We do not have the space for expansion we have here at Lincoln Fields But you see this stand pointing to the structure near the Derby start ¬ ing point well I can build one or two tiers more on top of that I could build more boxes but the growth of racing will come from the man on the street and I intend catering to that man In the years to come the infields at all tracks will be utilized much more than they are today and properly banked they will be the answer to race track expansion Here at Lincoln Fields we have no expansion problem such as that which confronts tracks nearer to the city From a commercial viewpoint Washington Park is the most ideally located track in the Chicago area Colonel Winn does not believe New Orleans racing will hurt the sport in Florida He did not say it but it could be seen that he felt if Florida suffered in any way it would be from Florida origins originsVery Very much in the eye of the Chicago turf world at the moment is Ben Lindheimer chairman of the board at Washington Park and member of tl e advisory board at Arlington Probably twentyfive or thirty years the junior of Matt Winn Lindheimer is that successful type of business man who has carried into racing the same principles on which he built his success in real estate A keen lover of the horse and horse racing he firmly believes that the funda ¬ mentals of all successful enterprises are the same We sat with him for quite a few hours and in the next day or two will give a complete resume of the views of this man who in a few short years has become a vital force on the American turf Suffice it to say for the moment that he is giving about seventyfive per cent of his time to racing and particularly the Arlington Park meeting which following Lincoln Fields will open on Monday June 23 Many new features will be noted when Arlington opens and like Colonel Winn Lindheimer caters to the man in the grandstand just as much as to the man in the box In the stable quarters are twenty new shower baths that came as a result of Lindheimers listening in on the radio one night as a veteran groom aired his views on the sanitary conditions for stable workers Lindheimer invited the groom to have dinner with him and the next day put through the order for the showers Thats typical of Ben Lindheimer LindheimerThe The writer will be at Hollywood Park for the next two weeks and will then double back to Chicago for the early days of the Arlington meeting Two finer race plants would be hard to find in any season Hollywood Park is catering to large throngs that will become larger as the meeting gets to such important July eVents as the Hollywood Derby Gold Cup and Sunset Handicap Arlington will probably stage the most success ¬ ful meeting in many years Both the Hollywood and Chicago tracks are under pro ¬ gressive managements who are endeavoring to give patrons such sport and comfort in witnessing it that they will come back again and again So in the manner of Winchell an orchid to Col Matt Winn Ben Lindheimer and Jack Mackenzie general manager at Hollywood Park
