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BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS HOLLYWOOD PARK Inglewood Calif June 6 Bob Read president of the HBPA in his recent speech be ¬ fore the Thoroughbred Club of Amer ¬ ica made reference to the news cover ¬ age in this newspaper of the recent dispute between the horsemen and Hollywood Park Read referred to our coverage as less desirable than that of other newspapers We compliment Read on using a proper phase He is at least honest in saying he wanted desirable instead of objective coverage We personally believe our editors are much better qualified than Read to judge the value of news If however he is earnestly interested in the matter of editorial objectivity we strongly recommend that he closely scrutinize the offi ¬ cial publication of the HBPA which has been completely lacking in objectivity and has been using its columns for the purposes of character assassination and vituperation against race track owners ownersA A A A AWhen When asked for a clarification of his statement Read said the HPBAs claim that the TRAs contemplated in ¬ tervention was a breach of its own code of ethics was not given the prominence it deserved We believe our editors used excellent judgment in seeing through what Read undoubtedly knew to be a phony issue Surely Bob knew what has been public knowledge that the HBPA on the Coast threatened to ostracize every jockey who rode if a strike was called Surely he did not believe that f the TRAs code of ethics was intended to help the HBPA strike against a race track In the final analysis we do not believe the HBPA is in an unprejudiced position to judge the objectivity of news in matters concerning itself We have found in our travels throughout the country Answering Bob Readf President of HBPA Charges Against This Newspaper Baseless Del Mar to Reopen Purse Split Question Wider Distribution Favored in Far West Westthat f that all reasonable people considered the coverage in this newspaper fair objective and factual factualA A A A AAlfred Alfred Hart president of Del Mar tells me that after a lengthy discussion the Del Mar board of directors has voted to ask that the entire question of the merits or demerits of paying purse money back to the fifth horse be reopened for further study Del Mar had a complete plan to divide its purses five ways for the summer meet ¬ ing which will follow Hollywood Park but shelved them following the announcement in New York that the TRA Hoard of directors had formally looked upon the plan rather dimly Incidentally Del Mar has a directorate com ¬ posed mainly of owners who are quite familiar with the problems of the horsemen and their problems if only for the fact they are horsemen themselves Without going into the right or wrong of fifth money we can say that many leaders here in the West look with favor on the purse split to five ways and some even go so far as to advo ¬ cate six At Del Mar however the majority of the direc ¬ tors are for a limit to five moneys because the overnight fields there are limited to 10 horses and five moneys would thus embrace the first half of the normal starting The Del Mar people are not at this point insisting that a fifth or sixth money in an overnight purse would be a cure all nor are they at this point going so far as to advocate such a move But the Surf and Turf folks do feel that the entire matter should be given a fair hearing before a final decision is reached Any such hearing would find any qualified person asked for an opinion and perhaps a decision could be reached after all the facts are available We violate no confidence when we say that Del Mar a member track was not consulted before the TRA board of directors in New York made its pronouncement against paying any moneys further back than fourth and it is quite obvious that certain con ¬ ditions which prevail in say New York and might not make for fifth or sixth moneys being in the best interests of racing do not of necessity prevail in the Far West Indeed quite the contrary may be the case While the Del Mar action was the first official act by a racing association to reopen the question other turf executives in the Far West are personally in favor of it Mervyn Le Roy president of Hollywood Park remarks Im in favor of a fifth money but wouldnt like to start it at Hollywood unless the plan were adopted nationally Harry M Warner a horse owner and a major stock ¬ holder in Hollywood Park said at a recent meeting with a horsemens committee that he had proposed the very same thing fifth and maybe sixth money as long as seven years ago but that he hadnt pressed the point at that time and nothing had come of it C Ray Robinson attorney for the HBPA and chairman of their current purse committee told the writer just the other day that fifth and sixth money might help solve a pressing prob ¬ lem among owners He too indicated he would like to see the matter come into the open for honest and frank discussion A spot check admittedly not a thorough one but still enough to allow an opinion to be made was made by this writer among horsemen here and as expected there were many differences of ideas but in inContinued Continued on Page FortyOtto BETWEEN RACES RACESBy By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page FortyFour FortyFourgeneral general the comment that distribution of fifth money might be worth a trial trialA A A A ADr Dr Mark Babwin the noted Beverly Hills surgeon and a former horse owner serves as a Del Mar director and has made a lifetime hobby of racing He is a student of the turf and its history and he has an analytical mind along with a great love of the sport Says the doctor I agree that no amount of purses the tracks could pay today would really solve the problems of the owner Perhaps something should be done to make for more efficient use of the purse money that we do have to pay Ac ¬ tually I suppose if you were completely sporting about the whole thing the an ¬ swer would be the winnertakeall race Buff most everybody feels that winnertake all races are not practical so an adjust ¬ ment has been made to practically with our present day purse splits through fourth Whether the time has come to ex ¬ tend this to fifth seems to me to be at least worthy of consideration We might add that winnertakeall races have been virtual flops in recent years and that no sporting principles are comprised by divid ¬ ing up purses back to fourth And as we say conditions are quite different here in the West than in New York where most of our owners might be described as the common man
