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Harness Racing Season Looms Most Prosperous in History COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 7.— The 1953 harness racing season, which opened in the East and Midwest last month, looms as the most prosperous in the history of the sport. Thats the opinion of U. S. Trotting Association officials, who are predicting a 10 per cent increase in all four major categories — attendance, purses, wagering and revenue to states. "The 10 per cent estimate," says Don R. Millar, executive vice-president of the USTA, "is a very conservative one. The increase probably will be much greater in some categories." Millar bases his opinion on the facts that at least four new pari-mutuel tracks are scheduled to operate this year, the trend established via new attendance and wagering records at Yonkers, N. Y. Raceway. "In 1952," say Millar, "with exactly the same number of tracks as the year before, attendance was up 10.9 per cent, wagering 19.3, purses 22.4 and revenue to states 23.5 per cent. With four new tracks providing 179 more racing days than last year, when there were 1,211, appreciable national gains can be anticipated.
