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REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunstan A Visitors Views on Belmont LoudSpeaker vs Number Board Capposella Does Fine Mike Job Machine Not Caller at Fault FaultNEW NEW YORK N Yf June 7 In late years there has been a general tendency to improve racing It had room for improvement and it has much more So that is why we are quoting part of a let ¬ ter from Mr Ford Robert Campbell of Jacksonville Fla We cannot quote it in full for it is much top long but we are taking a part of it exactly as it is written Dear Sir I have just returned from your New York City after spending some two wealrs of my vacation and as I am a great enthusiast regarding horse rac ¬ ing I attended your Belmont Park on five afternoons and just wanted to give you a visitors opinion on racing at that great track The grade of horses entered was excellent the track was operated in fine shape relative to the handling of crowds betting inc But I can state that I be ¬ lieve the one great factor being overlooked by the track management is that of in ¬ forming the public of the race I refer to Decoration Day as an instance With that great crowd on hand lots of noise and confusion resulted during the running of the race That lad on the loud speaker endeavored to keep the public informed I stood on the lawn down near the old clubhouse and in all honesty I could not hear one audition of the loud speaker and I must add that my hearing is pretty good goodThe The letter continued It is my un ¬ derstanding that loud speakers are for audiences of quiet and not for noisy gatherings About all I could do was to wait and to hope that my horse was near the finish line But I could not see over the heads of the crowd and thus was deprived of much interest in the running of the race I run down to Miami in the winter time and I can tell you that our two Florida tracks arc greatly ahead of Belmont Park when it comes to studying what the public wants deserves and is entitled to re ¬ ceive Down in Miami the two tracks show on an electric board the num ¬ ber of the horses while the racing is being run We purchase mutuel tickets by number and if we are in ¬ terested say in No G why is it not consistent to let us know if No 6 is anywhere close So Mr Dunstan why dont you forget your talks on breeding horsemens associations etc for a day and give your pen to what the public wants You got to talk about the benefit to the state the tracks the horse owners the grooms the jockeys so how about a column for the public the outfit which really keeps this great game going It seems to me tliat in all this general confusion that the public is entirely forgotten forgottenDuring During the course of a month we receive a hundred or more letters from readers Some of these letters are written by fans who happened to lose a twodollar bet and to whom the jockey the trainer and the owner are just a bunch of crooks Those letters go into our waste basket and just as fast as we can throw them there This particular letter impressed us because it was apparently written by a fairminded welleducated gentleman who admitted he loved the sport and paid a grand tribute to Belmont Park but who felt he had a kick or answer to his letter Fred Capposella is one pf the finest reporters on the loud speaker If has even been our privilege to listen to Such veterans as Clem McCarthy Bryan 3pield Tommy Daley Babe Rubenstein and still other announcers all have their fine points They know how to call a race and day in and day out they do a job that few en could do and that includes this writer The fault certainly is not with Fred Cap ¬ posella How can you ask one man even though he has a loud speaker to be heard Over the roar of 30000 or 40000 fans who suddenly start shrieking when the horses turn into the stretch Fred keeps calling them but the odds in voices are too over ¬ whelming whelmingRecently Recently TomOReilly of P M wrote a fine article on Chuck Con ners the veteran chart caller for the DAILY RACING FORM These chart callers are the unsung heroes of rac ¬ ing and to their names must be added those of Fred Capposella and others whose voices are heard day in and day out but whose names are seldom mentioned Whether the number system of reporting races to the public is an improvement over the loud speaker system is a moot question There is more action packed in two minutes of horse rac ¬ ing than there is in nine innings of baseball or four quarters of footbalL A man calling the chart and thman on the loud speaker must have an eye that is given to few of us They face a tough job every time a large field goes to the post And the fact that they bobble now and then does not cause us nearly so much wonderment as the fact that they call so many races correctly Person ¬ ally we detest the loud speaker as much as we do the starting gate but that does not alter the fact that the men who operate such machines do an arduous task in a most efficient manner It is a machine and not tho men that falls down and this is espe high above the gf n sfjjjl and fa from the old clubfiousH at Belmont
