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0 i Weighing In By EVAN SHIPMAN TV Offers Opportunity to Racing Value of New Propaganda Medium Newcomers Want to See Dancer JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 5.— Once we opened our mouth concerning Saturdays Kentucky Derby, Dark Stars dramatic vic | c t I j £ J j j t * tory and the even more dramatic defeat of the turfs gray idol, Native Dancer, we find it difficult, or impossible, to change the subject. Even if we professionals occasionally deplore overemphasis of the Louisville classic, the fact remains that the Kentucky Derby, for the public at large, is, has been and will con- I c j s j j. l * £ i j ] j | j J * 1 - " . " j " * " tinue to be Americas greatest horse race. On that May afternoon, the sport of thoroughbred racing is on display. We are judged on the basis of an indelible impression that, for better or worse, will persist at least until the next year, and perhaps much longer. True for a long time, this situation, because of the recent introduction of television, now brings our gala performance within the range of thousands who were, previously, almost complete strangers to racing. They are strangers no longer. Today, they will talk to you about Dark Star and Native Dancer with the authority of an eye witness. They did not have to journey to Louisville to see Saturdays race. The Derby came to them, and they feel the same surprise at Dark Stars front-running score, and the same regret at the failure of Native Dancers stretch bid, that first thrilled and then saddened the multitude in actual attendance at the course. Television, without the sport of racing being quite aware of it, offers us a golden opportunity. As was the case last Saturday, we can show the best features of the sport, those in which we all take proper pride, to an eager, appreciative, attentive public, a public that, were it not for television, could only dimly envisage the whole vivid picture, granted it took the trouble to concern itself with racing at all. Thoroughbred racing, as we have hinted, has been of two minds concerning the value of this new medium of propaganda, and we are employing that word in its best, its most favorable, sense. Thoroughbred racing then has been, more often than not, timid in its grasp of a means at hand, fearing that once the public learns to relish the sport on a television screen, it will no longer bother to make the trip out to the track. In other words, the turnstiles will not click to the same brisk tune on Saturday afternoons, and, worse yet, the pari-mutuel totals will suffer. This argument is so feeble that it hardly deserves serious refutation, and yet exactly such thinking has threatened to deprive the sport of all these new friends, your neighbors and mine, who still, three days later, are all busily re-hashing that Kentucky Derby. Since we have set that straw man up, lets knock him down, just for the fun of it. For one person who actually saw Man o War run, it is probably conservative to say that 100 have seen Native Dancer, and we all know perfectly well that the increase in the size of race track crowds since 1920, appreciable as it has been, does not explain the difference. No, the majority of the gray champions friends first made his acquaintance on television. "Some of them, many of them, will never actually lay eyes on Native Dancer, but the point is that all of them now want to see him, and a surprisingly high per-j centage will make his next local appearance the occasion for a holiday. As against these thousands of newcomers, we will admit that a few seasoned racegoers, annoyed by the crowding at the track on a big day, and by the limited seating accommodations, will stay at home. For those few absentees, however, the associa-! tions have only themselves to blame; once give the public the facilities that a great and growing sport deserves, and we hardly dare put a limit to the size of the crowds that may be anticipated. But in the meanwhile, and with accommodations as we now know them and tolerate them, you will find that people still want to get as close as pos-j sible to the champion who first won their affection and loyalty at a distance. You will soon see that Native Dancers return to Long Island will be taken as a "personal appearance." Due homage will be paid him, nor can we possibly ignore the proportion of his admirers whose imagination was first Continued on Page Thirty-Eight • i 1 WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Two fired by a glimpse of the gray in their own living rooms, or at the end of the neigh-- borhood bar. As far as horsemen are concerned, the awakened interest of a new public is the great contribution of television to the sport, a contribution that must be thoroughly expoited. We ourselves know that there are certain limitations connected with the presentation of a race on television but in comparison with vast benefits to be derived from the general dissemination of the pictorial image, such limitations are petty. The race, as the television fan sees it, is not the real race. His picture is distorted in detail, and also lacking in much relevant detail. The crucial incident of last Saturdays Derby, for instance — the bumping of Native . Dancer by Money Broker in the jam on the first turn — was not visible on television, and yet the result of the race hinged on that incident. Relative positions are, of course, apparent on the television screen, but, because of deceptive angles, these cannot be safely judged, and are often the basis for a false impression. Such carping has to do with fine points. It leaves our main tenet unaffected. Blurred, mistaken in detail, false in emphasis as the picture o fa given race may be, nevertheless these detrimental factors weigh little in the balance as opposed to the intimate, almost tangible, appeal of • the spectacle. Our new friends may not have seen the race, but they have certainly seen a race. Time enough for the fine points of the game later on. Bryan Field and Fred Capossela, by their accurate "calling" of a race in conjunction with its visual presentation, do much to pull any distortions on television back into proper focus. Both men are trained "eyes," . and they translate, or develop, the picture with an admirable economy of words. When Field or Capossela get through, you have adjusted what you think you saw to what these trained observers actually did see. while their interpretation of the event has subtly but effectively colored your own. This is all to the good, but the introduction of a field of horses and the actual running of a race only requires several minutes. The rest of any racing program on television, apart from the inevitable "commercial," is composed of the color, the build-up, the "foreword" that prepares and explains the main event. This phase of the television ! program could and should be well handled . 4 but it left much to be desired as coming to us from Churchill Downs last Saturday. There is no place for a perfunctory, halting introduction on these programs, while an ■ informed, intimate exposition dealing with 1 the actors in the drama just at hand would , ! do much toward establishing the mood. But its a big subject, television, a subject that 1 racing will find of vital importance. We 1 have only skirted the remote fringe today, and we are quite satisfied if anything here . I causes you to poin us in taking television seriously.
