To Ask State to Place Charges in Race-Fix Plot: Eight Riders and Jockey Agent Suspended by Fairmount Stewards, Daily Racing Form, 1953-06-30

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To Ask State to Place Charges in Race-Fix Plot Eight Riders and Jockey Agent Suspended by Fairmount Stewards FAIRMOUNT PARK, Collinsville, 111., June 29. Officials of Fairmount race track planned today to ask the states attorney to place charges against a Breeze, HI., tavern owner, who they said conspired with eight jockeys and a jockeys agent in an alleged race-fixing plot. All of the jockeys and the agent were suspended after investigations by the Ryder and Pinkerton detective agencies turned up evidence that the tavern owner attempted to fix six races, the first on June 12. Ralph W. Choisser, steward representing the Illinois Racing Board, and the two track stewards, Robert P. McAuliffe and George Molesworth, announced the alleged plot. They said four of the suspended jockeys Bob Bennett, John Philips, Richard Ury and Dave Bates made statements about the attempted fixes. Choisser said four of the attempted six fixes failed. The others suspended were: jockeys Hector Sanabria, Leon Grandsart, Wally Humes, Leo Jones and agent Joe Le Blanc. Le Blanc is Jones agent. Choisser said Jones denied any part in the scheme and said he was only a patron of the tavern owned by the alleged fixer. Humes also denied any complicity and Continued on Page Three To Ask State to Place Charges in Race-Fix Plot Eight Riders and Jockey Agent Suspended by Fairmount Stewards Continued from Page One Sanabria, Le Blanc and Grandsart refused to make a statement, Choisser said. Edwin C. Moon, Fairmount Park general manager, said he would file a formal complaint with Maidson County States Attorney Fred P. Schuman. The case has also been referred to the Illinois Racing Board for possible action. Schumans assistant, Austin Lewis, said the grand jury had been recessed until September 15, but could be recalled in an emergency. Lewis said that if the states attorney did not consider the case an emergency, those named in the complaint could be arrested and held for the grand jury. According to Choisser and Moon, the detectives learned that the fixing plot worked something like this : The jockeys would meet before a night race with the tavern owner and he would give instructions, place bets on the horse picked to win and pay the jockeys involved in the race. Winnings from the bets were to be split among the jockeys in the race and the leader of the alleged plot. The first successful "fix" took place at Fairmount Park on June 12, when White-ford Tom won the ninth race and paid 1.00. Whiteford Tom, who was ridden by Sana- bria, registered by four lengths. Honey Bear was second, nine lengths before Big Hope, who had Duhon aboard. The latter was not implicated in the plot. The other time the jockeys were successful in controlling the outcome of a race was on June 20, when King Midas won the eighth event and paid .60. Bennett was on King Midas, who won by two and a half lengths. Dixie Light, with Ury up, was second. Bates was astride Angle Bar, the favorite at 19 to 10, who finished fifth after showing early foot. Grandsart rode Futurette, who was sixth; Phillips was on Hadapest, who was eighth, and Sanabria was aboard Arthur Elrod, who was tenth. Moon said that the men involved in the "fix" were among the lesser lights in the jockey colony here. "It was our plain duty to the public to bring the facts in this case to light at once," Moon said. "We did so the moment we had positive proof of the details of the ; plan."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1953063001/drf1953063001_1_6
Local Identifier: drf1953063001_1_6
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800