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Inclement Weather Has Plagued Operation of Tracks This Spring Attendance Holding UpWell Under Circumstances, While Mutuel Handle Has Declined Inclement weather has plagued American race tracks which have been in operation since the beginning of the spring season. A survey by Daily Racing Form correspondents at the various racing centers reveals that, as a result, while attendance has held up comparatively well, mutuel play has declined as much as 16 per cent. Few tracks have had a preponderance of sunny days, Suffolk Downs and Jamaica being among the worst sufferers in this respect. The East Boston course had only 14 afternoons when the skies were clear during the first 31 days of its current meeting, while Jamaica, which staged a 25-day session, had 15 days when the strip was other than fast. Reports from our correspondents regarding weather conditions, attendance and mutuel play in their respective sectors follow: Unseasonable cold, which hampered training early this spring and abnormally wet weather during the Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Sportsmans Park and Lincoln Fields-at-Hawthorne meetings, cut down mutuel handle, but did not seriously affect attendance at those tracks, Keeneland being the lone exception as to mutuel play. Ohio tracks also suffered due to the bad overhead and racing strip conditions and handle, as well as attendance, has fallen off slightly. Keeneland opened the 1947 Kentucky spring season and, despite unfavorable ov-1 erhead conditions and "off" tracks, held up unusually well. Keenelands daily average handle for 21 days of sport last year was 78,640, while the 11-day season this spring found the daily average climbing to 26,794. Attendance last year at the Fayette County course averaged 8,403, while for the 11 days thus far in 1947, Keeneland played host to a daily average throng of 8,086. Churchill Downs had a high percentage of "off" tracks during its 19-day meeting, recently concluded, and horses competing there after the Derby-week program, were thoroughbreds capable of negotiating dull footing. Despite the necessary mediocre programs, attendance for the season was considerably higher than that of 1946, but the mutuel handle dropped from 7,010,629 to 4,259,901, a difference of ,750,728. Sportsmans Park opened the Illinois season and the popular half-mile oval was hit by a series of rainstorms and inclement weather. Attendance, however, was off only two per cent, but the mutuel handle for the 13-day meeting was" 00,000 less than that of the previous year. Hawthorne, also visited by cold and very rainy weather, is presently down in mutuel handle in the sum of ,300,000, and attendance is 5,000 less than the corresponding figures for the 1946 Lincoln Fields meeting, some 4 per cent less. BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., May 24. New York racing patrons, who have been lamenting the miserable weather this spring, have not been suffering from any delusions, a little research reveals. Last year there were only four "off" tracks in the first 39 days of racing, and the first of these, a sloppy track, came on the eighteenth day of the Jamaica meeting. This year, there were no less than 15 days during the same period, when the track was other than fast. The persistently bad weather had comparatively little effect on the attendance, which William Duke, representative for the Internal Revenue Department at the New York tracks, says has been almost identical with last year, but it did cause a fairly drastic cut in the wagering. Attendance at Jamaica in 1946 was 831,039 and 775,125 this year, but is appreciably better at the current Belmont meeting. Last year wagering at the Jamaica meeting totaled 6,693,718, while this year it fell to 5,761,759, a drop of about 16 per cent. Thus far in the Belmont Park meeting including May 23, 9,004,297 has passed through the machines, against 3,-159,103 for the same days last year. The decline at Belmont" has been proportionately less than at Jamaica. SUFFOLK DOWNS, East Boston, Mass., May 24. Although the current Suffolk Downs meeting has been successful, a definite financial trend of New England racing probably will not be available for several weeks. At present pari-mutuel betting is approximately 11 per cent below the anticipated figures. Whether future weeks will bring up the general average depends on the weather. The elements have posed a hectic problem since the meeting started. In a few short words, the weather has been miserable. Under the adverse circumstances, there is no way of telling just how much this unusual condition has affected the financial end of the sport in this sector. That it has reflected in many other ways, however, is an established fact. Throughout the meeting the organization has been plagued by rain, bitter coldness and muddy racing strips. This, of course has struck home hardest in the office of the racing secretary, whose task it is to fill out well-balanced, attractive programs. Because the wet or dull average conditions of the track surface has retarded training progress of the horses, difficulty has been encountered and the general class of competition has consequently suffered. The first 31 days of the current meeting have offered only 14 afternoons when the skies were clear. On only 17 occasions has the track been adjudged fast for the opening race. On all other days it has been either cloudy and showery, with biting winds and coldness adding to the general discomfort. Earl Gibson, manager of the mutuels and treasurer of Suffolk Downs, traces approximately 4 per cent of the decrease in handle to the weather and bad tracks. "The rest, I would say," explained Gibson, "is the normal drop in business that has been evident throughout the country. Anyway, Narragansett probably will prove a good barometer for New England racing that is, of course, if the weather improves."
