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I REFLECTIONS By Ntlson Dunstan Our Hat Is Off to Dan Chappell, HBPA Kill Off-Track Betting Or It Will Kill Racing Why Does Not Drayton Clarify That Rumor? One Big Buyer Will Avoid Yearling Sales NEW YORK, N. Y., June 25. This column takes off its hat and bows to Dan Chappell, who arrived in New York from Miami last week. Chappell, who is legal advisor to the Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Asso- ciation, is on his way to Boston for the annual meeting of his organization, which will be held in the near future. At that meeting, Chappell will introduce a resolution asking the HBPA, to take a solid stand against off-track betting and against further increases in taxation on racing. What we cheer him most for is that his resolution will suggest that states which adopt off-track betting be placed on a not-to-be-patronized list by horsemen. This is the first real fight talk we have heard in connection with this off-track betting scheme which would mean nothing more or less than the ultimate ruination of horse racing. Some two years ago, a. group endeavored to introduce a measure whereby betting booths wpuld be established in New York State. The Thoroughbred Racing Associations and the National Association of State Racing Commissioners promptly came out with protests against this new political plum which would make little more than a "crap game" of horse racing. When the talk of off -track betting was first heard in New York, there was so much opposition to it that its sponsors quickly crawled into their hole. Dan Parker, sports editor of the Daily Mirror, actually went after it and he showed it up for all the cheapness and the political conniving that was behind the move. Did it stop the New York politicians? Momentarily, yes, but, waiting until the stench had died down, they formed the New York Committee to Tax Betting, a group headed by Assemblyman Patrick H.- Sullivan, of the 7th Assembly District. Sullivan went at it from a new angle and that was to legalize bookmaking. He was enboldened, of course, by the success of Mayor ODwyer who put the 5 per cent "bite" on horse racing in New York City. Hardly had this Pat Sullivan made known his plans when William Woodward, chairman of The Jockey Club, came out of the sacred room at 250 Park Avenue, and solemnly warned the people that such a plan "would be very apt to do away with racing entirely." But, Mr. Woodward probably would not approve of the plans of the HBPA, to boycott states that would legalize such a plan to make racing a game that would be about two degrees lower than the number racket. New York State, once the stronghold of racing, has become the weakest link in the entire chain of the sport throughout the country. Back in 1910, Governor Hughes at least had the courage to stop the sport of racing entirely, but a man named August Belmont had the courage to fight him on his own lines and had the sport revived in 1913. Unfortunately, there are no August Belmonts around, nor are there any racing officials who have the courage to stand up against the Mayor ODwyers and the Commissioner Moses, who was really the man who sold Governor Dewey the idea that a 5 per cent tax was a grand thing for the city -of New York and to heck what the racing people thought about it. To anyone who knows the inside story of the "raid" on racing as this writer knows it it is rather a sickening process. In fact, the more we see of. attempts to tax racing in New York, the more we wonder how it survived through recent years. As long as we are writing along these lines, let us bring out an incident that occurred in New York on the weekend. A former sports writer, who had become a Broadway columnist, published something to the effect that Tour jockeys will be named in a race track explosion that will shake the country." He then went on to say that Spencer Drayton and his new race track FBI, had this matter in hand and "will announce it shortly." On Saturday, when we arrived at Aqueduct, we must have heard the names of over a hundred people who were hush-hush, you understand connected with this scandal. Among those hundred people was one of the finest jockeys in America and a racing owner whose name has beenvrespected for over 20 years. It is unfair to these people that this "fear campaign" should be whispered from one end of the track to the other. Only four were involved, according to the columnist, but why should innocent people have their names dragged into a thing like this? We endeavored to reach Spencer Drayton in Chicago on Monday, but were unsuccessful. What we wanted to tell him was that if any such four people were involved in a scandal, he should state the facts and not allow innocent people to have their names dragged in the mud by a whispering campaign. Everywhere we go lately, we are asked how we think the yearling market will compare with last year. A week or two ago, we thought the prices would compare favorably. Since then, there has been many disconcerting things to make us think otherwise. Here is just one of them: Last year, a new buyer appeared at Keeneland. He spent over 00,000 in purchasing yearlings. When he endeavored to get stalls this spring at Belmont, the man who is in charge of the stables said "not a chance we have a long waiting list." When Jamaica was asked for 24 stalls, he was given a lot of salve about being filled up. Finally, Frank Keogh, of Aqueduct, was appealed to and that grand little sportsman said, "I dont know how I will do it, but this man deserves stalls and I will try to get them for him" and, he did. Such things as this go on, mind you, when we constantly hear the cry, "racing needs new buyers it needs new blood." Is there any wonder that this same man, who was prepared to spend 00,000 again this year, may not even be a visitor to the yearling sales?
