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Charles Hatton THE JUDGES STAND Bv Charles Hatton Time to Plan Host War Turf Swope Points Out Pitfalls NEW YORK N Y June 12 12What What of the thoroughbred industry postwar era in America This is a subject that is claiming all too little attention in the hurdygurdy of the moment when tax parched tracks are busily conforming to the framework of the myriad Washington bureaus and lending valuable assistance to war relief agencies Without minimizing the importance of racings continued aid in expediting the extermination of the Axis now is the time to build for the future The turfs vogue has increased enormously since the United States entrance in the global conflict It now far outdraws any Supervision Is Important Trek to Chicago Under Way other sport The gams it has made in public favor may be lost following the war if they are not protected with extreme care through supervision and the associations cooperative efforts to continue and if possible further the games attractiveness The National Association of State Racing Commissioners the Turf Committee of America he Thoroughbred Racing Associations of the United States the American Thoroughbred Breeders Association the American Trainers Association et alia of jthe representative groups that havebeen formed in recent seasons some since the beginning of hostilities in World War II can help to fortify racing for the future Herbert Bayard Swope chairman of the Turf Committee of America and of the New York Racing Commission is a farsighted solon and enumerates the gravest dangers that face the thoroughbred In ¬ dustry in postwar times as follows followsa a Too many tracks tracksb b Too much profit for individual clubs clubsc c Too much taxaction on racing which in the abstract is on the public publicWhen When steel and other materials needed to construct a modernday racing plant are again available and when the public is again free to enjoy the luxury of driving to countryside courses there is certain to ensue an extraordinary crush of applications for franchises and dates Racing must avoid inflation instead of heedlessly riding the crest of an inflation then suffering the inevitable reaction It behooves all members if they will pardon a seeming impertinence to exercise extreme caution on this matter of new tracks in order to avert a surfeit of racing in their communities communitiesNew New Jersey arid New York will be in receipt of applications for at least a half dozen more courses Particularly if the Saratoga Association resumes at its upstate home vacating August dates in the Met area areaTaxation Taxation is a cycle as it applies to racing and one of the utmost im ¬ portance The cycle runs from taxpayer through the maw of the tote back to the taxpayer with the associations retaining a commission This becomes a vicious cycle when legislators who have more zeal for revenue than any comprehensive grasp of racings mechanics place too great a strain on the racegoing public and the associations associationsIn In this connection commissioner Swope pointed out that New York tracks receive the least commission from the handle the Florida state offers the greatest In the first case it is four per cent in the latter approximately nine per cent centSwope Swope expressed a forthright belief that the public is entitled to pro ¬ tection from both the tracks and the states in this matter of race track levies for he realizes the public cannot withstand slot machine percentage Florida editors please copy and that where it is imposed the game ultimately becomes stagnant stagnantSupervision Supervision is of an importance difficult to exaggerate as it applies to the thoroughbred sport at all times particularly during the transition from the present to the postwar era with pitfalls of scandal and loss of racings newwon popularity Swope had these things in mind when he urged recently that the NARC adopt a resolution twentyoneIn to recognize the rulings of one racing state in each of the other twentyone In some states this interchange of commission administrative activities now exists Occasionally however owner trainer or jockey who is persona non grata in one state or section of the country has been welcomed in another This creates a regrettable impression and incites an adverse pressure pressureMuch Much of whether racing shall continue preeminent in the sphere of American sportdom depends upon how it conducts itself during these few critical seasons seasonsThe The other day this observer expressed what somewhat pompously perhaps he considers his thoughts anent the hamstringing 25 per cent clause in the claiming rules A good many owners of cheap horses repercussed all over the back stretches We still do not perceive there is any raison detre for a rule that so blandly ignores public form merely to assuage those horsemen who would handcuff haltermen haltermenEven Even granting the owner of a bad horse is entitled to some special consideration in these claimbox transactions it would be better to require the claimant to pay him a cash bonus of a percentage of the claiming price than permit the new owner to start the animal at his own appraisal A liberal claiming rule is the publics best hope of formful sport among cheap horses Turfgoers midsummer nights dream a race involving Count Fleet Whirlaway and Alsab contains too many contingencies to permit an intelligent discussion now but may come true in September with the proviso all three are in condition then Time Magazine by the way put an apt subhead on its story of Americas first four crown winner It asked succinctly How Fleet nobody knows really In ¬ cidentally some commentators are confused about precisely at what point in the Belmont Mrs John Hertz highoctane colt sustained his injury It was entering the back stretch not at the furlong pole poleDon Don Cameron who was recognized by the racing fraternity as a firstclass horse ¬ man long before he developed Count Fleet is exactly as pleased as any trainer would be over the way his charges ankle has mended Barring the unforeseen he should be ready to run among the records at Chicago The trek to the Toddling Town and those lavish ArlingtonWashington stakes is under way A total of 16 cars with a cargo of millions of dollars in horseflesh were billed to depart from Long Island for the Homewood prairie to latest accounts with more to follow This means simply that the Aqueduct Empire City and Saratoga meets will share name horses with racing at the Great Lakes metropolis Seemingly there is an ample quantity of this quality to go around Some of those box office attractions remaining here will commute to New England for the Massachusetts and Gansett Special and to Garden State for the Trenton
