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■KfaWi Sls JM ■■■*—«»—«■■■ REFLECTIONS by nelson dunstan NEW YORK, If. Y., May 19.— One day last week we wrote a column about the stride of Native Dancer, as determined by a series of three photographs that appeared in Life Magazine. About all we know regarding cameras is that they take pictures, but apparently there are many people who who have have a a scientific scientific knowledge knowledge of of ■■■*—«»—«■■■ who who have have a a scientific scientific knowledge knowledge of of them and they disagree with the magazine. The three pictures show Native Dancer to be striding 29 feet. We attempted some research on the stride of other famous horses, especially Man o War, whom we distinctly recall was a 28-foot strider. We received telephone calls and letters, some of them questioning the accuracy of the magazine pictures. One writer was Bogard Rogers, who is connected with, and, we believe, owner of the Photo-chart which is used at many race tracks in this country. In part, Rogers said: "If you care to take issue with Life Magazine about this — or can you reverse yourself now — we can certainly back you up." We have no desire to engage in controversy, but we do wish to correct statements if we find we are wrong. We accepted the photographs at their face value, but here is Rogers letter so readers can get the story of a man who knows far more about cameras than we do. AAA Rogers says: "If you will pardon the suggestion, which I am sure Life Magazine would not, I suspect that their photograph analysis, and then yours, of Native Dancers stride may be pretty wrong. In the pictures it looks as if the left hoof went from about 11 feet to 40 feet on the markings on the board behind the running horse. It looks like that — , that is, until you start studying the angles, and then up jumps that old bugaboo of the photofinish business, the errors often very great errors of angular viewing I . The caption says, Actually measured with rule Readers Doubt Native Dancer Photos Claim Stride Exaggerated by Camera Rogers Writes About Deceptive Angles Says Actual-Measurements Must Be Made and camera. This means one camera, swinging in an arc, as the perspective on the background building plainly shows. It is difficult to tell how far from the calibrated backboard Native Dancer was, but apparently some distance. Obviously from the kicked-up dirt that has not yet fallen back to earth in the top picture he was outside of one horse working just ahead of him. This dirt is obvious in all three pictures. So he was at least several feet out from the board. We in the photograph finish business know that the only viewpoint from which you can accurately determine the winner is exactly on the finish line. Our cameras are set on that line by a surveyors transit. We also know that if you view the finish line from some distance to the left of the line, an outside horse may appear to be the winner by a length, and still be beaten by a nose or length. From the right side of the line, the inside horse is visually favored." AAA When we read thus far in Bogart Rogers letter, we could quickly see that he not only made sense, but that he knows of whence he speaks. Time and again when we have been at an angle and not directly on the finish line, we thought that one horse had won, only to find that when the numbers went up, another horse was the winner. This is especially true when a race is run down the Widener course at Belmont Park. We have often been in doubt as to the winner until the numbers were posted. But in this measurement of a horses stride, we gave no thought of the scientific angle, and we are indebted to Rogers for correcting us. We credited Native Dancer with a stride of 29 feet, the longest of any thoroughbred whose measurements have been recorded. We referred to those of Bernborough, Phar Lap, and the pacer, Dan Patch. There is no doubt in our mind that Native Dancer does have a longer stride than the average thoroughbred, but Rogers has cast doubt now on whether it is longer than that of "Big Red," whose stride was gauged with a tape measure in the usual way. That is from the point where the left forefoot first hit the ground and then hit the ground again. AAA Rogers goes on to say: "The only accurate way to measure the length of a stride is from hoof print to hoof print on the track. There is no way of angular viewing to a mark in the dirt and a steel tape. Now it is entirely possible in these Life Magazine pictures that his left foot in the top picture may be at as much as the 12-foot mark and in the bottom picture it could be as far back as the 35-foot mark. The attached rough sketch will show you what I mean and what angles can do to you. We are sorry we cannot reproduce this sketch. I will guarantee from these pictures that Native Dancers stride was not a full 29 feet. The spread of the camera angle is obvious. Only the middle picture is anywhere near head-on. The bottom one is almost a three-quarters rear view. In the captions, Life Magazine remarks, legs distorted, which of course they are not. It is the usual distortion that the stripe -type camera gives to horses and human runners* legs. But not to the nose or body. Pardon me for being a pro bono publico." AAA During the running of the Withers last Saturday, we watched Native Dancer very closely and while it would be impossible to attempt any estimate of his stride, he did Continued on Page Forty REFLECTIONS By NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Forty-Four show that he spans considerable ground from the point where one hoof touches the ground to the point where it strikes again. From Rogers letter, we are convinced that the only actual measurements on the track obviate arguments that can be started by the pictures of the horse with a calibrated board behind him for measurement purposes. We hope to get come opinions of trainers who have had experience in making measurements. And from other men who are more familiar with cameras on a race track than we are. We would like to krow if the Life Magazine photographer agrees with the views of Rogers. When we have assembled sufficient data, we plan to follow this column with another on the subject.
