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A Good Example An Editorial New Yorks five racing associations made a farreaching decision to improve racing and breeding when they recently acknowledged the value of the production of better horses by announcing the award of a premium or bonus of 25 to the breeder of the winner and 15 to the breeder of the second horse in every race run at their tracks Their action has been hailed by turf officials breeders associations and racegoers from coast to coast Without fanfare and within one week after it had been advocated editorially in this vpaper they made the breeder a partner in the profits he helps to create and opened a new source of revenue to offset partiallyvthe losses he incurs in years of depression war and business slumps generally generallyThe The New York tracks are to be lauded for their unselfishness and desire to keep racing through breeding on a high plane but it is to be hoped that they will readjust their plan so that their slogan Bigger Purses for Better Horses will apply to thorough ¬ bred production as well as racing Under the present arrangement the breeder of the winner of a race worth 1500 receives the same premium as the breeder of a 25000 stake winner This should be changed by adopting a graduated scale or awarding a fixed per ¬ centage of the purse The old expression The improvement of the breed which so long has been sneered at by reformers and enemies of racing would thus be given new force and meaning Why not encourage a breeder to quality rather than quantity production New York has made a splendid start But it is just a start Only last December race track owners would have shied from the suggestion that they share some of the profits with the breeders of the horses who make the profits possible With travel restrictions gas and rubber conservation and other restraints they were not certain there would be any racing to say nothing of profits New Orleans Oaklawn Park Bay Meadows and then Keeneland Churchill Downs Narragansett Park Pimlico and Jamaica staged profitable meetings so successful in fact that they surpassed fond ¬ est expectations They completely changed the aspect Instead of losses many major tracks will find themselyes in the excess profits brackets Apropos of this it is proper to repeat here the statement made in our previous editorial on this subject It is good business to put part of the profits back into the industry that branch of it which supplies it with new racing material annually Without breeding racing could not exist so it is obvious that racing should support arid encourage the breeder particularly in these perilous tunes tunesAs As big as New York racing is its five tracks alone cannot carry the full burden For it to be successful all other tracks must give their support to the twoply movement the assurance of continued production of quality horses and maintenance of high class racing Breeders are not soliciting gifts nor begging charity But they have every right to expect a share in the prosperity of the racing to which they contribute so heavily Only by the universal support of this movement by race track operators can breeders be given their just due
