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BETWEEN RACES By Oscar Otis GARDEN STATE PARK Camden N J May 6 H H Mundy of Oklahoma is racing in Jersey for the first time and gives iis the cheering tidings that there is far more than a passing chance that the thoroughbred sport may be legalized in Oklahoma in the not too distant future The measure will in fact come up at the next session of the leg ¬ islature and Mundy says that there is wide ¬ spread support of the thoroughbred evident in all walks of life in the Sooner State Oklahoma has no debt and the revenues from racing would be used for the benefit of agriculture through Four H Clubs and future farmers and perhaps to assist in payment of the old age pension If the rac ¬ ing is legalized it is planned to invite only real leaders in Oklahoma life to construct a modern and model plant with a drawing population of about 2500000 citizens Site of the proposed track is between Tulsa and Oklahoma City Access to the track would j be easy from either city via a dual high ¬ way which will be completed in the not too distant future Mundy incidentally believes that certairtJsections of Oklahoma have great potential as producers of thor ¬ oughbred stock and he himself is attempt ¬ ing to prove it Next year he will have some fancy bred in Oklahomas racing in New Jersey for his first major crop on his farm in Osage County are now yearlings Mundy started with stock se ¬ lected by Henry Knight 22 broodmares in all plus1 the stallions Contest a son of Sir Gallahad HE from a Bahrain mare and a winner in New York for Max Hirsch and Bobs Pick a son of Eight Thirty from Black Queen whose dam is Black Maria MariaA A A A AOklahoma Oklahoma breeding has been extremely limited in the past but C D Alexander at Guymon out in the Panhandle country has produced some rugged and running horses Sunny Toots for instance Mundy is operating on a 40000acre establishment in the Osage country in a section that is famous down that way as is Lexington in Kentucky There are about 100 square miles of pasture long known for its ability sus ¬ tain superb cattle Mundy is raising his Racing in Prospect for Oklahoma Breeding Flourishes in Sooner State Jersey Tracks Emphasize Stakes Progress in Rules Unification Unificationthoroughbreds thoroughbreds in this most favored part of the state and is doing it on lespedeza a yellow hop clover and Italian rye grass The land is rich in most needed minerals and is so rich that it is susceptible to erosion A careful conservation program is being practiced in which the lespedeza plays a leading role It would be perfect horse and cow country we are told and scenic as well if it were not for a flock of ugly but utilitarian oil wells cluttering up the otherwise pastoral vista The migration of this typically western outfit to New Jersey may not set a trend but it is ap ¬ parent that more and more people out in the vast spaces are thinking about New mer Addition of more intersectional aspects to Jersey racing would stimulate public interest and no doubt will improve the quality of the competitionA competition A A A AHorace Horace Wade tells us that Jersey tracks in general and Monmouth Park in particu ¬ lar are becoming more aware of the ad I vantages of stake racing the reason that Monmouth has upped its stake program this summer by more than 33 per cent from 200000 to 305000 to be exact Among the new stakes on the roster is the Longfellow a dash over the turf and which is not as some might imagine named after the poet but rather after a horse who made turf history in Jersey back in the 80s by beating 1 a horse called Harry Bassett in a match Monmouth is budgeting all along the line for a banner season for in addition to the national uptrend everywhere Monmouth will be helped attendance wise in two important ways The New Jersey turnpike while it meanders more than 15 miles from the track gates will eliminate an ¬ noying congestion from New York and North Jersey through Elizabeth and other cities and resumption of the pleasant steamer service on a major scale from New York Last year customers arriving by boat dropped to a mere 8000 from 28000 the year before an unhappy circumstance occasioned by the fact that the one old beat up boat in service kept no very defin ¬ ite schedule and was in the drydock for repairs much of the time Monmouth be ¬ lieves that it may have a 3000000 day before its season is concluded concludedA A A A AFrank Frank Warton of the Illinois Racing Board remarks that the Illinois board has no thought of changing its revised claim ¬ ing rule at least until after the new regu ¬ lation which provides that a claimed horse advance in price for 25 per cent during the next 30 days has been given a thorough test Our colleague of Colorado Dr James L Farquharson has plunged into the task of codifying the rules of the 26 states and will have his findings available within the next few months perhaps by the end of summer I have a feeling that at the next NASRC convention in Boston some real progress will be made toward standardizing certain claiming procedures throughout America Dr Farquharson has discovered to no ones surprise that the various rules are in many fundamentals widely diverg ¬ ent and it is no wonder that a horseman moving from place to place has trouble keeping up with them We are in hopes that NASRC president Tom Testa will ap ¬ point a lawyer to the rules committee for it will take a lawyer and a good one with a thorough knowledge of racing as well as civil codes to compromise the varying rules into one that is acceptable everywhere and workable But from the preliminary work Dr Farquharson has accomplished to date we feel that this goal is within sight sightA A A A AHorses Horses and people George W Stratton who stands Your Host at Circle S Ranch in California has divested himself of his in ¬ terest in Puett Gate Corporation and has resigned as a director A little belatedly we report that conditions of the Kentucky Derby will be changed next year to specify 250 to pass the entry box 750 additional to start This practice intended to dis ¬ courage the entering of horses for public ¬ ity purposes first became standard pro ¬ cedure on the West Coast Incidentally the last major change in the conditions of the Derby came about in 1920 after Sir Barton had aired by five in 1919 with a tenpound pull in the weights He re ¬ ceived that concession as a maiden allow ¬ ance The following year it was made a true scale race let the best horse win and has so remained ever since
