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■mi |MI iii—m ***— *— BETWEEN RACES %a»o* HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 20. — On Saturdays, Hollwood Park offers a sweepstakes, and in some instances, ■mi |MI iii—m two, two, and and it it has has been been two, two, and and it it has has been been our custom in the past to comment a bit upon the stakes, their portent for the future, and, on occasions, some sidelights on the horses destined to compete. These comments are written late Thursday, before the entries close at the usual time on Friday morning, and we we must must confess confess that that ***— *— we we must must confess confess that that writing such comments has become almost an impossible task for the reason that nobody seems to know from nothing who will or who wont start, and if they do know, they arent talking much. It is safe only to mention that there will be two stakes run here tomorrow, the Lakes and Flowers, a seven-furlonger for three-year-olds and upward, and a new adornment to the Hollywood Park roster, plus the Cinema Handicap, for three-year-olds, at a mile and one-sixteenth. Advance stakes writing in southern California has developed into the fine art of saying who will not go instead of who win go, or leaving the whole subject under a blanket of doubt. Under these circumstances, the track cannot make full use, public relations wise, of the handicap and stakes horses it has on the grounds. Southern Californians are extremely "name conscious" and appreciate better horses. The clouds of doubt preceding a great many big stakes here do not allow for a buildup of the coming stake events. AAA Inasmuch as the so-called "4-3-2 percentage of play plan" is used by the racing commission as a yardstick to determine a fair purse allotment to horsemen, such a state of affairs definitely is to the disadvantage, purse-wise, to the horsemen, for, if the stakes do not lure out the people, the play suffers and also the ability of the track to pay purses. Yet we cant entirely blame the horsemen, for quite often, they really dont know. But the situation has gone beyond that, mainly because the turf writers have received confusing releases ament the soundness or lack of it on the part of certain horses. Lights Up is a good example. He walked off the track a little lame in his last race, and some of Lakes and Flowers, Cinema on Tap * Press Relations Need Improvement Place Emphasis on Positive Side Cut Down Uncashed Tote Tickets the turf writers "guessed" that he would be on the shelf for a spell. The Argonaut was coming us. So what? So the track vet, B. J. Errington, was brought into the picture thusly, and I quote: "Dr. B. J. Errington examined Lights Up this morning and ended all fears as to the possibility of an injury keeping him out of the Argonaut. T examined him on the ring and in his stall and he certainly showed nothing which would keep him out of the Argonaut if they decide to run him, Dr. Errington said." Of course, Lights Up did not run in the Argonaut, and well be surprised if he runs at the meeting. Or a release like this: "Weights will determine how frequently Warcos will run in the future." Warcos, in case anyone is interested, has been fired, and if weights are the determining factor, hell have a hard time getting by the vet. AAA The minute that an emphasis is placed upon the positive side rather than upon the negative, and philosophically accepting the "loss of competition" of certain horses, a loss which occurs everywhere and at every track, we believe that the Southern California stakes will begin to fill their proper role in the Los Angeles metropolitan racing area. As far as we can determine, both the Lakes and Flowers and the Cinema Handicap shape up as good contests, and could serve to develop two new equine heroes who only a few weeks ago were considered just run of the mill horses. Blue Trumpeter, who has won four in a row, three of them at this meeting, will get his most severe test in the Cinema. This is the colt who was not deemed worthy to name for the 0,000 Westerner. In the Lakes and Flowers, Admiral Drake, winner of the Argonaut, gets another outing, and while he was regarded as a useful horse at Golden Gate Fields, he was not named for the 00,000 net guaranteed to winner Gold Cup. There are great stories behind both horses, and while we in the West are inclined to overwork the words "Cinderella" or "rags to riches," however trite they may be, they nevertheless fit. In the case of Admiral Drake, he was supposed to be ►broken down when he hit California at Golden Gate Fields with a bowed tendon, but he has run surprisingly well, nevertheless. Actually, he did not have a bowed tendon, but did have a swelling, occasioned by a shipping bandage being wrapped too tightly. AAA At the last meeting of the California Horse Racing Board, Dwight Murphy, chairman, requested the California race tracks, if possible, to do something about the large amounts tabbed every year in uncashed tickets, saying that this represented an unfortunate circumstance in racing where a citizen, who may have purchased a cashable ticket, failed to do so, and perhaps through the belief that he had lost his money. "There is more involved than seems possible through sheer carelessness, about which I suppose nothing can be done," said Murphy. Hollywood Park has been the first track to accept the challenge of the problem, and currently is readying a program of education which, it is hoped, will cut down on this needless loss to the public. Mort Shaw, pari-mutuel manager, is of the opinion that some of the failures to cash valid tickets may be that aptrons, who leave the track early, check their tickets against the form charts. Now, it is well known to most everybody that the charts throughout America carry actual post positions, and that post positions do not always agree with the program numbers, by which wagering is conducted, where there is an entry in a race, a field, or where there is a late scratch. For instance, if number one horse is scratched, the number two post automatically moves up to the number one. In the interests of accuracy, there is no way the form charts could be made any differently. AAA Of course, no such campaign could have 100 per cent success, not as long as year after year we run across the same story, to wit: Most programs carry the advice to patrons as to how to wager, first, to ask for horse by program number, and then cites an example, "Number five, four tickets." As we say, every year a few people take this as a tip, go up and wager on number five, and sometimes come away with a hatf ull of money. As long as there are such people, there always will be uncashed tickets. But it is to be hoped that the volume of "outs" as they are known in the trade, can be diminished.
