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?fc|Pand: §F BETWEEN RACES ■ *cm ore GARDEN STATE PARK, Camden, N. J., May 5. — Many thoughtful turf observers believe that, in some respects, Garden State Park is a model American race course, and there seems no doubt as to its progressive-ness. Eugene Mori, president, has used rare good judgment in disbursement of race track income, sharing it rather wisely between purses and catering to the public, the latter ah all-embracing term which includes everything in the way of improvements and comfort. A few tracks have plowed most everything into purses, but have, or are, rapidly attaining a saturation point of people, and now find they must do something for the customers. Theoretically, it would be possible to advance too fast in the matter of improvements, and not upgrade the racing _ as fast as the comforts of the so-called two-dollar fan, the man who pays the freight in racing when all is said and done, as the publisher of this newspaper pointed out at the Thoroughbred Club dinner in Lexington some weeks ago. Mori seems to have attained a reasonable compromise, and the net result has been a steady upsurge in attendance, and a gradual, but not spectacular, gain in quality racing. And now, Garden State seems prepared to enter what we like to term the "prestige" sweepstakes and offer, not as competition, but rather as Jerseys own contribution to the great American racing classics, a 00,000 added, perhaps 50,000 gross, juvenile championship in the fall. Mori has been toying with the thought of giving Garden State a national prestige for some years, but did not think the time was right until he had built up the overnight purses to a substantial point. AAA The objective of modern day American race tracks is fine racing, with leading attractions which serve to whet Garden State Combines Progress, Tradition Suspense Now Building for Fall Colossal Kentucky Derby Plans for 1954 Outlined Hugenberg Explains Entry Release Date public interest, especially of people who are not regular racing fans. At Santa Anita, the approach was originally made in the spectacular manner, i.e., the first season, a 00,000 race was offered, even though overnight purses that season amounted to only 00. The Santa Anita method worked, for it gave the Arcadia track a certain degree of prestige and public appeal right from the start. From the interest aroused in the handicap, it is our opinion that the growth of the sport in Southern California to its present lavish status was made possible. While Garden State Park has built from another foundation, i.e., overnight racing into a prestige stake, both paths have led pretty much to the same result. As a matter of fact, the carding of the 50,000 gross Garden State Stakes this fall has stimulated a good deal of interest in the meeting this spring, for it has added an element of suspense to Jersey sport, and few would care to deny that suspense and anticipation are major factors in making such races as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont, Santa Anita Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup the great races that they are. Mori, as every Jersey race fan knows, is a stickler for cleanliness, and he gained an everlasting niche in turf history when, after a trip to Europe, he made this single terse observation on racing: "Personally, I can see nothing incompatible with tradition at a race track and clean rest rooms." It is this philosophy of clinging to the traditions which have made racing great, but refusing to allow decrepit accommodations for the public, which has made Garden State Park one of the most charming of American race courses. Before dismissing the Kentucky Derby into the record books and looking forward to the Preakness and Belmont, it might be worth while to bring our readers up to date on the plans of Churchill Downs to make the 1954 Derby, the eightieth, greater than ever. It was axiomatic of the late Colonel Matt Winn that, "When the official sign went up on one Derby, he immediately started planning for the next." Before leaving Louisville, president Bill Corum told us: "We always will make improvements in the Derby, but they will not be drastic ones. It will be a paradoxical Derby in that it will be always the same, but always changing, and for the better. Our year round Derby campaign will be subtle and, we feel, for the benefit of all racing. We have no desire to get into the papers during most of our off season, but we like to keep the Derby sort of in the public mind as background for racing as a whole. For instance, there is a five-minute or so presentation in Ringling Brothers circus styled a Kentucky Derby Honeymoon, which is well done and which, before the circus closes in Havana in December, will be seen by millions of people. Also, we have had nationwide reports, and all to the good, of the role Churchill Downs played in its TV presentation of the race in relationship to the Red Cross." AAA Stanley Hugenberg, executive vice-president, added. "You have wondered why the Kentucky Derby nomination list is not made public until March 15, when we easily could publish the entries at least two weeks earlier. We have done this purposely so as not to interfere with the public relations campaigns of the winter tracks, all of which have worthwhile three-year-old stakes. It is our thinking that while we are always thinking of Churchill Downs and the Derby first, we also have responsibilities Continued on Page Thirty-Eight I BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Forty -Eight as a member of a family of American race tracks, and must consider ourselves in the light of those responsibilities as well as our own." To tell the truth, it had long puzzled us as to why the Kentucky Derby nominations were delayed in publication until March 15, after a February 15 closing, and Hugenberg explained it by a philosophy which had not occurred to us, but which indicates that Churchill Downs is among the foremost tracks in the nation in looking ahead for the good of the sport nationally. AAA Horses and People: Harry Truman saw the Kentucky Derby at least four times before he became president, and only the steel strike prevented him "from attending the 1952 renewal. . . . Pimlicos Cary Bo-shamer, a Derby visitor, believes the Preakness will show some real growth from here on without discarding one whit of the beloved tradition which surrounds its running. . . . Clifford Lussky, president of the KTBA, offers for national consideration the idea that it might be worth while to establish a school for grooms. . . . "When it boils right down to it, the groom is perhaps the most important man in racing," explains Lussky, "and a school, with speakers and instructors from colleges and top men in the industry, could do much to make the job of a groom into a real pro-fessi i. . . . Every breeder and owner gives horses away at one time or another, and such gift horses could be used as working subjects for the student groom to feed scientifically, rub and patch up."
