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! j ; • 5 I 1 I B - I - l a a ! ! e 1 - s U to s - I, t - g 1 j Merritt Takes Stand Last ■ Hght of Rehearing Case i Jockey Declares That He Always » I Rode to Win Astride Peep Show i NEW YORK. N. Y.. April 21— Jockey, f j Robert Merritt was his own best witness 5 ! ] and possibly his own best lawyer as he took I j | the stand last night in the third and last I I ! session of the public hearing of his case j before the joint board of the New York c ! Racing Commission and two stewards of f , j The Jockey Club. Merritt was asked to 3 leave the New York tracks after July 17, 1942. and denied a license to ride in 1943 and 1944 for having allegedly "pulled the horse, Peep Show, at Empire City on July1 6 and 9 and then having ridden to win on 1 j July 16 when, it was charged, a betting f j coup was planned. In the latter race. Peep j Show was beaten a nose by General Mow- j 0--lee, who had beaten him by greater mar-1 gins on earlier occasions. . Merritt was asked much the same series * of questions relating to Peep Shows three races as had previously been put to stew-t . aids Marshall Cassidy. Harold O. Vosburgh and Francis P. Dunne, who officiated at t Empire City during the 1942 meeting and j who are still the "stewards of the meet- .1 Continued on Page Three ► _j Ik IIR: B i | Jockey Merritt on Stand During Final Session of Rehearing Case * , t t . y U i j I | ] 1 i 1 i I J 1 I j j 1 1 I 1 1 i 1 j | 1 j j i . j 1 i I 1 | j | | i : I j I i j ! t | | [ ! . Denies Charges and States * ► He Always Rode Peep Show To Win in New York Races Continued from Page One ings" at the New York tracks. Merritt, however, volunteered additional testimony concerning both his riding and betting on the race. Of the July 6 race, Merritt said he had been ordered by trainer Joe Bauer to take the horse to the front and go as far as he could with him. Bauer told him, Merritt declared, that the horse was "very unde-pendable." Describing the final stages of the race, Merritt said Peep Show "had no more run in him; just stopped." Attorney William Seligson again pointed out that Peep Show had behaved in the same manner tinder such other riders as Arcaro. Merritt declared that nothing was said to him by the stewards after this race. The jockey then said that his orders just before the July 9 race, which was at a mile and one-sixteenth, a sixteenth shorter, were to reserve the horse off the pace. The jockey, a dapper little man with thinning wavy hair and somewhat prominent nose, and notable for his poise in the stand, characterized this as a good race, saying he had kept the horse off the early pace and tucked in behind horses, adding that he was "flying the last part after he got free," and that he thought he would have won it if the race had been at a mile and one-eighth. Merritt declared that he was trying to win, was energetic, used his whip and hands, but not his legs, as he never uses his feet or legs. Merritt later amplified the lack of leg technique, explaining that he doesnt swing his legs as some riders do, but will kick when ordered to employ spurs. After this race, too, Merritt declared nothing was said to him by the stewards. Meeting Cheaper Company In explaining the alleged improvement of Peep Show on July 16, Merritt repeated what Attorney Seligson had contended in earlier sessions, that the horse was meeting cheaper company, had in fact never previously run so cheaply. When Kenneth Greenawalt pointed out that General Mow-lee, who nosed him out in this race, had beaten him by greater margins before, Merritt brought something new into the case. For the first time in the numerous dissertations on handicapping that have featured the hearing, the question, of weight was raised by Merritt, who pointed out that Peep Show was receiving an additional three pounds from General Mowlee, which he considered important. More im-Iportant, Merritt said, was the fact that he had, unintentionally, borne over on his rival at the first turn and bumped him. But for that, Merritt said, General Mowlee [would probably have beaten him several lengths. As for the "betting coup," Merritt de-■ clared that he himself talked trainer Joe Bauer into backing the horse on the strength of what he considered his good race on July 9. Merritt said that he had given-Bauers agent 00 of his own money to bet, but called it off when the price went to 8 to 5. Attorney Greenawalt then introduced an involved fractional time-beaten lengths system of analyzing races, designed to prove that Merritts rides were not, as he maintained, equally good on all three occasions. Chairman Herbert Bayard Swope offered one of many interjections at this point, saying that, "Unless Merritt is qualified as a handicapper — a SPEED handicapper — I think it unfair to submit him to a mathematical quiz." Guest of Grand Thorn Greenawalt also questioned Merritt sharply concerning hotel records of a visit to the Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans, in January, 1943, when the jockey is alleged to have been one of a party of four, the other three being persons of dubious reputation. Merritt declared that he went to New Orleans as the guest of Grant Thorn, manufacturer of Baltimore and owner of several horses now campaigning at Ja- maica. Merritt stated that he only knew two of the men by nicknames, one being called "Chic." The other man he knew as George Chapman and this man shared Merritts room, but Merritt stated he saw Chapman, who, he said, claimed to be a private detective, only when they went to bed at night. All three of these individuals, Merritt said, were casually introduced by Thorn, whom he characterized as an amiable sportsman who made friends quickly." Merritt had ridden for Thorn and described him as a good friend. The 32-year-old rider declared that Thorn had told him last fall of being questioned by Marshall Cassidy, who, Thorn is alleged to have said, asked if the Baltimore sportsman was backing Merritts case financially. LOUIS B. MAYER— His well regarded Free France made an auspicious racing debut when he scored in the sixth event at Jamaica yesterday. I j - l t I 1 1 5 " I 5 5 J • I According to Merritt, Thorn denied this and at the same time told Cassidy of the circumstances of the New Orleans trip. The rider also flatly denied ever having owned Double B., or any other horse, but said he had a sentimental fondness for the horse because it was the first one he won with after an injury in 1939. Record Impresses Swope Merritt said the horse ran better for him than any one else, his reason for riding him for liis many different owners and also riding him at exercise. Attorney Greenawalt introduced statistics intended to disprove this, but the record showed that Merritt had been six times first, five times second and five times third with Double B., a showing which appeared to impress Mr. Swope. The gist of Merritts responses to direct and cross-examination were that he always rode to win; that there was nothing wrong about Peep Shows races but the horse: that he had never owned horses; never knowingly consorted with unsavory characters and that he had never, prior to the b spring of 1943, been told by any official i of The Jockey Club that he was asked to 3 "Go quietly" because of Peep Shows races. Merritt said that on July 17 Marshall Cassidy . first said it was unnecessary to give ; him any reason, then said that he was betting. 1 Earlier in the evening, patrol judges Myron Davis. Frank Keogh and Walter Mara were called to the stand. Davis declared that Merritt gave Peep Show a listless ride from the head of the stretch to the wire on July 6, and failed to attempt any move at the head of the stretch in the race of July 11. Davis described Merritts riding on July 17 as "very different — very energetic." Keogh and Mara saw nothing wrong from their stations. Merritt declared that it was Davis, whom he said he thought of as a friend, who had a advised him to "leave quietly and not irritate anybody," and added that he thought t he was in difficulty over his claim of foul, . which the stewards had termed frivolous, and in later testimony said that he thought t his bearing in on General Mowlee earlier r in the race also had something to do with a it. Davis flatly denied advising Merritt t not to protest the stewards action. Objects to Question Being Withdrawn After attorney Greenawalt had elicited d the facts that Merritt was born in Newark. :. to which Swope asked. "Is that against :t him?" and that Merritts real name is s Merachnit, there was considerable sound d and fury over the admission of various s newspaper articles, which Seligson declared - improper evidence. At one point it during this altercation, Greenawalt withdrew - a question and Seligson objected to o the question being withdrawn. Both lawyers summed up briefly, Greenawalt reviewing the charges of dishonest t riding, reported by the stewards of the e meeting and patrol judge Davis, making it, in the opinion of The Jockey Club, not t in the best interests of racing to allow w Merritt a license to ride, declaring that it a t . t r a t d :. :t is s d s - it - to o t e it, t w it - — . the New York public has the right to as-I sume riders are trying to win under all circumstances. Seligson opened his slightly longet peroration by thanking the joint board for their fairness and sportsmanship, say- ing that it is a credit to racing in this state that The Jockey Club and the racing commission have the courage to hold this public hearing. He added, however, that the joint board was "the toughest jury he had faced in more than twenty years." The balance of Seligson s summation was devoted to maintaining that all charges against Merritt were unsupported by proof and he ended with a plea that the boy should be permitted to go back to the race track and earn a decent living for his wife and three children, declaring that he would be a credit to the sport. Decision was reserved. Seligson was aided in the defense by Pfc. Leo E. Falkin, former law associate of Merritts attorney who had been con-t, nected with the case before being drafted. There was a faint paradox in Private Falkin being on the defense side of this case, as he is now an MP.
