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BETWEEN RACES " - ARCADIA, Calif., May 30. A radical innovation will be made in the all-important item of the taking and closing of the entries at the impending meeting at Del Mar, it has been revealed by Webb Everett, general manager and director of racing. He intends to close entries each morning at 8:00 oclock sharp instead of the conventional 10:30 a. m., a move which when broached to horsemen in the West, has met with enthusiastic appro-0tJPand- The new method of closing of the entries is expected to prove a boon to horsemen, management and public alike. It has many merits, and so far as can be ascertained, no demerits. The plan will work something like this. Entry booths will be placed at the horsemens entrance to the stable area, in the stable cafeteria and, of course, in the main office of the racing secretary. These booths will be staffed to take entries from 10:00 oclock in the morning until late that afternoon for the races 48 hours in advance. For instance, the booths will be open all day Monday for the acceptance of entries for Wednesdays card. Horsemen will be encouraged to make entries upon their arrival at the track early the next morning, usually before daybreak, if they have not done so the morning before. At eight in the morning, the track will be closed to training for the usual, in the West, at least, 15-minute period for reconditioning. This welcome break in the morning sees the track cleared of horses and the harrows and other conditioning gear run oyer the surface. Del Mar Entries to Close at 8 in Morning Everett Announces Plan to Benefit Turf Everybody Helped by the Earlier Closing Santa Anita Also to Adopt New Methods During this period, horsemen will gather in the cafeteria for a cup of coffee or breakfast, and the entries will be called, or "balled" as the technical racetrack term for the drawing for positions is termed, and after the races are established, horsemen will be free to continue with their training chores or, if their work is accomplished, go home for a rest. The advantage to horsemen is two-fold. They will know whether or not a given race has filled, and if so they will be free to go ahead and breeze or blow out a horse in the certain knowledge that the race will go. At a recent meeting in the West, at least one horse has been blown out three times of an early morning, and the race has failed to fill. It is a well-known axiom of training that after a horse gets to a certain point in his training, he must race, or face the prospect of tailing off badly and turning in a disappointing effort when he eventually does get to the post. Horsemen could train their horses not destined for racing that particular day prior to the 8:00 oclock closing, blow out those in the races after the 8:15 deadline on the reconditioning period. The plan also would allow a horseman much more free time, and also allow him t6 run his stable along more businesslike lines. A trainer is not attending to his busi- ness properly unless he waits around, usually long after the training hours are over, to see which races fill and which do not and, if so, which of his horses are actually engaged. AAA Moreoyer, the plan is expected to ease the task of the racing secretary considerably. With the horsemen assembled adjacent to the coffee urn of a morning, they will be available to fill extra races, if such be necessary, or to enter their horses somewhere else if a particular race fails to fill. Much of the delay occasioned in the closing the entries at some tracks has resulted from a trainer leaving the track prior to the closing of the entries at the conventional 10:30 and not being available until early in the afternoon to make any switches. While the system would be of particular benefit at Del Mar, a true vacationland track, by giving the horsemen more free time, Everett believes that the benefits to other race tracks will be equally as great as at Del Mar. The new practice will be given a thorough test at Del Mar during the summer, and it is expected, if successful, that it may be universally adopted. It already has been earmarked for adoption at the Santa Anita winter meeting, where the late closing of entries, on occasions, has reacted adversely to track public relations. Racing, of course, is largely dependent upbn the daily press and Daily Racing Form to place the entries before the public. If the entries miss half the editions, or all, in some instances of the daily papers and Daily Racing Form from getting into the hands of the public, the play suffers. Entries and Continued on Page Seven BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Forty past performances are indispensable to the vast majority of fans in arriving at their wagering decisions. Before making his announcement, Everett made a thorough poll of horsemen on the Santa Anita grounds. Without a single exception, trainers voiced their approval of the plan. All admitted that it had no demerits compared to the present system, and many advantages. Horatio Luro, Allan Drumheller, Bob Roberts, Burley Parke, and other leaders in the training profession, were absolutely enthusiastic. They admitted it would prove of a distinct aid in properly training their horses for certain races, and also would give them more free time without sacrificing their duties to their patrons in waiting, often until noon, until the last race was called. Everett himself could see only one objection to the plan. That would be the necessity of the hired hands, including the secretary, of getting up early every morning. A few officials do not get to the track until 8:00 oclock or thereabouts. "But we get paid to go to the track," says Everett, "and if we and our clerks are out at daybreak like the horsemen, I cant see where any inconvenience to ourselves should outweigh a real improvement for racing." A J. A Del Mar, it might be mentioned, is a track which has pioneered in many fields of improvement of the sport, and the experiment of Everett will be closely tabbed by track managements everywhere. Indeed, as Bob Roberts summed it up, "Its a wonder someone hasnt thought of this before." Any kinks or bugs in the plan would have been worked out before the Del Mar season is over, and the system should be working nicely during the next Santa Anita winter season. If as successful as envisioned, the trainers themselves will force the program on a national scale. The only valid reason for closing entries at 10:30 in the morning seems to be that it has been done that way for the last 50 years. Times do change, however.
