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Between Races By OSCAR OTIS Laurel Using Track of Future Ideas Said to Be the Last Word in Design Registration Booklet Aids Breeders DEL MAR, Calif., Aug. 21. Yesterday, in this column, we outlined the ideal track envisioned by one of Americas leading turf architects, Art Froe-lich, and commented that while the ideal was perhaps impossible of attainment because of costs, nevertheless some parts of the ideal could be worked into the improvements on American race courses of today. Such is the case with the new club- house and turf club at Laurel, which, as designed by Proelich and being constructed to his specifications, will be the last word in such structures. It will be a five story affair, including the basement, which will house the general offices of the racing association, a main preparatory kitchen and receiving area for food and beverage, a workshop and maintenance rooms. This will connect to the first floor level, which will be the first of the levels open to the public. The patron will enter into a magnificent foyer, or lobby, adjacent to which will be pari-mutuel facilities, a lounge, at which no food or drink will be served, but which is intended as an area in which to meet friends or work over the past performance tables. Also adjacent will be a paddock room, made popular by Santa Anita, with a self-service dining facility. There also will be standee terraces, upon which we elaborated yesterday, terraces from which everybody can see. Architect Froelich plans to do the "impossible" by air conditioning the weather in the clubhouse even though the fan is out in the open. In the warm weather, the outdoors will be ventilated, in colder weather warmed by radiant heat in the walls and which will carry well into the great outdoors. From this deck, people will ride to the next, or mezzanine, which will have a liberal assortment of boxes, a large area for comfortable, unreserved lounge chairs, plus terrace dining. On the next deck up will be the private turf club, for which memberships are now being accepted. It will be the first true such club on the Atlantic seaboard, for Belmonts is but a section of the grandstand, sort of fenced off. This one is designed as a self contained unit affording everything in the way of comfort that a patrician turf goer could ask. The top deck will-be the presidents room, which will accommodate more than 100, and which will be suitable for the entertainment of the high brass from Washington, foreign dignitaries, and the like. This room will have a contemporary colonial motif, sort of revolutionary day atmosphere with modern plumbing. We have gone into the Laurel layout at considerable length to -emphasize that some American tracks are taking advantage of Froelichs ideas as to the ideal track of the future, but we can add that even Laurel found itself short of funds to make the new edifice absolutely conform to the ideal. Still, Froelich tells us, where money was saved, it was saved at the expense of the bigwigs, not in the public areas. For instance, a private elevator from turf club to presidential room was nixed at the time being at least, the brass will walk this final flight, while the public will ride. James G. Jackson, registrar of the California Breeders Association, has made a notable contribution to turf literature in a booklet styled a "Registration Manual," which in fact, it is, but actually, the tome goes a great deal further and incorporates some basic philosophy for breeders. Technically, the 48 page manual gives the answer to every conceivable question that could arise concerning Jockey Club registration of a foal, interprets The Jockey Club rules on the subject, and has the tacit approval of the club through a foreword by Lillian Brennan. While designed specially for California breeders, the book is avail- Cohtinued on Page Fifty-One j BETWEEN RACES I By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Four able, at cost, to anyone. For the records, it might be said that the California breeders influenced a change in Jockey Club registration certificates for these bits of valuable paper now carry the name of the breeder of the foal and the state in which it was foaled. Formerly,the certificates listed only the person to whom it was issued, who may or may not have been the actual breeder. Jackson emphasizes certain points with human interest stories as illustrations. An example: "Some interesting controversies have arisen from The Jockey Club rule defining the breeder as the owner of the dam at time of foaling. We know of a case where an in-foal mare had been sold subject to her dropping a live foal. She did subsequently have a live foal and the buyer paid his money and took the mare and foal. But he could not qualify as the breeder because he did not actually own the mare when the foal was dropped, his purchase being contingent upon her having a. foal. The sale was therefore not consummated until after the foal arrived. "Split second timing ixgured in another transaction, this one involving a mare who was due to foal momentarily. It was an outright sale the money changed hands, the certificate was endorsed over to the new owner, and the two then repaired to the barn to inspect the mare. It was found that the foal had already arrived, precipitating the question of who qualified as the breeder. Such items are of tremendous importance in breeder award states, of which California is the leader. In this case, the point was solved by the seller yielding and relinquishing his rights instead of resorting to the courts." For whatever mental balm it is worth, the booklet also offers a few words of comfort on the subject of selecting a name for the foal, which should be an interesting diversion, not necessarily a chore. "Horses are people," Jackson states profoundly, "and should not be embarrassed with ill chosen names likely to make them the butt of ribald laughter." Some of the perils of selling horses , "without pedigree" also are discussed. Even some old-timers will be surprised to learn that withholding a certificate of registration or destroying it does not constitute selling or disposing of a horse " as without pedigree, regardless of the understanding between the parties involved. To legally destroy a thoroughbred, it must be done in The Jockey Club offices, and simply tearing up a pedigree does not accomplish this. Jackson and the California Breeders Association, the club being essentially a service organization for its members, are to be commended for making this worth while contribution to breeding circles. The book does take a lot of guess work out of The Jockey Club rules which, while explicit enough, still were at times subject to individual interpretation or ignorance of exactly what was implied. i
