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JOHN C PAPPAS Improvement of New England Sport Is John C Poppas Aim Suffolk Downs President Believes Purses Must Be Geared to Fit the Horses HorsesBy By FRED GALIAN1 GALIAN1Staff Staff Correspondent SUFFOLK DOWNS East Boston Mass May 7 A man with a purpose and a de ¬ termination to see that said purpose is carried to its conclusion is bound to suc ¬ ceed The man with a goal here is John C Pappas president of the Eastern Rac ¬ ing Association who is determined to bring back high class racing in New England It takes a bold man to admit the shortcom mince words New England racing has deteriorated in the last couple of years and I am determined to do something about it The fault of all this he said belongs to the track operators There has been too much emphasis of the minimum purse ± dont believe that the minimum purse means anything It is the maximum that counts Racing has gone into a decline here and the only way to bring it back is to increase purses but only in the right spots If just the minimums were raised it would mean that a 2000 claiming horse would run for a 2000 purse and a race or two later a 5000 or better horse would be running for the same amount of money So to lurethe better stables up here purses must be geared to fit their horses and that means putting purses commensurate with their ability Every day we have only two races at 2000 and the rest scale up to 3000 and 3500 and I have given strict orders to the secretary that these better races are to go even if the fields are small We have the right to write extra races if the best event fails to fill and then spread the purse money around to reach the daily distribution but I will not subscribe to that As a result none of the feature races in our books have been called off although the fields were small and the track has had three minus pools already amounting to over 3500 The track incurs the entire loss in breakage as the state is not forced to share in the deficit Policy on Show Betting BettingLast Last Saturday the handicap had only five horses and although we had the right to do so I would not prohibit show betting I feel that if a person comes to the track and thinks he has a sure thing betting show in the fivehorse field he is entitled to wager so even as did happen the track has a minus pool And I intend to continue this policy of having the better races run every day as long as I have anything to say about the operation of this track I have been saying this for three years and striving to improve the class of horses and already good results have been shown We have the best quality horses here in six years and we have been excluding the cheaper horses This year we have divisions of such stables here as Fred Hooper King Ranch and Isidor Bieber and Hirsch Jacobs Hooper has 12 here Jacobs 10 and there are eight of Max Hirschs charges chargesPappas Pappas leaned back in his chair in his office atop the clubhouse and we listened to Babe Rubinsteins call of a race The description stopped in the stretch as the roafe of the crowd mounted as the field went under the finish line Then the presi ¬ dent of Suffolk continued The horsemen here are quite happy over this increase in purses for the better horses It took me three years to convince themr but theyre now satisfied Our relations with the horse ¬ men are excellent The HBPA committee here is of the most intelligent order and we have not had any disputes in some time We have also increased our stakes The Yankee Handicap which was worth only 10000 last year has been increased to 50000 And I am offering another 25000 to the race if the Triple Crown winner starts providing there is one This is not a publicity stunt I mean it sincerely I think the New England racing fans have a right to see the champion sophomore race here and I will do everything I can to entice the top horses here For years the big race has been the Massachusetts Handi ¬ cap which was worth 50000 I often felt that the threeyearolds were neglected in favor of the handicap stars and that is why I want to make the Yankee Handicap a big feature in the sophomore division The Massachusetts naturally will be kept and that purse also has been raised to 35000 after being run for 25000 the last two years yearsA A thing that has hurt us this year is the strike of the Eastern Massachusetts Bus Company which is now in its ninth week A good portion of our patronage comes from the smaller communities around the area and they are dependent on buses And the special bus services are naturally also out I can say that we have lost anywhere up to 1000 people a day because of the strike and figuring them betting 60 per capita you can see why our handle is down some 20000 daily But the last couple of days have shown an increase and it is gradually picking up as the people are find ¬ ing other means of transportation to the track Boston proper is served by the sub ¬ way which gets you to the doors of the track in eight minutes After three years of striving for the goal Suffolk appears to be getting closer to it It takes time but Pappas is avowedly determined to bring back good racing to New England The bet here is he will
