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1 RACING ROUND TABLE Current Questions Discussed By BOB HORWOOD , Staff Correspondent On July 1 last, the first of what is intended to be an annual series of "Round-Table Discussions of Matters Pertaining to Racing" was held at the offices of The Jockey Club, 250 Park Avenue, New York City. The entire session was recorded on tape, which was later transcribed verbatim and has been printed by The Jockey Club in a booklet of 48 pages. Those around the table were George D. Widener, Ogden Phipps and John Hay Whitney, representing The Jockey Club; Marshall Cassidy, steward; John B. Campbell, racing secretary; Cyrus S. Jullien and Luke OBrien, track management; Robert F. Kelley and Alex Bower, public relations; A. B. Hancock, Jr., and Clifford Lussky, breeders; E. Barry Ryan and Sol Rutchick, owners; Preston Burch and Hirsch Jacobs, trainers; Frank Ortell and J. Samuel Perlman, the press, and Ted Atkinson, jockey. A prepared list of 35 questions was handed each of the participants for discussion. The full text of the transcribed discussions is, of course, too long for newspaper publication, but the subject matter and the opinions expressed at the Round Table are of such interest to all in any way concerned with thoroughbred racing, either as participants or as spectators, that the following digest has been prepared, with a view to giving full representation to each of the occasionally divergent viewpoints expressed. Mr. Widener opened the discussion by saying, in part: "Because of the complications and pace of racing today, we never have an opportunity to hear what people in another branch of the activity than ourselves think about various problems. The purpose of this conference is to get every element in racing together to exchange viewpoints. There is absolutely nothing official about this; it is definitely not a turf congress." Question Is the Scale of Weights Fair in the Fall?" Mr. Campbell said that he thought that the present scale favored the three-year-olds, adding: "I think it ought to be raised at least two pounds. The different distances are a factor, especially iri the long races, where the three-year-olds have a good deal the best of it." Trainers Burch and Jacobs said that they would favor a readjustment of the scale in favor of the older horses. There were no other opinions. Question "Should New York-Owned Horses Have First Call on Stabling Room?" The consensus was that there should not be any favoritism on behalf of locally-owned horses. Messrs. OBrien, Widener, Rutchick and Burch expressed themselves as opposed to any restriction that would bar outside horses from any area. Mr. Perlman stated that the right to ship horses anywhere in the country is a basic freedom that must always be protected. If one state wwere to pass a law giving local owners preference other states would retaliate. It would result in the cheapest type of horses getting the stalls because the owner? happened to live in a certain state. He stated that it was surprising that the HBP A- has never taken a national position ; against it, and that in at least one state an : officer of the organization was sponsoring ; -a bill to give local owners preference. Mr. Jacobs said that he was opposed to discrimination against horses shipping into New York from other states, but asked: "What are we going to do in New York if all the other states give preference to local horses?" Mr. Jacobs added that he did not know that the HBPA had anything to do with such discrimination, to which Mr. Perlman . replied: "I can give you the facts. Last year, vice-L president Kohout, of the Illinois division, , who is also a member of the Legislature, introduced the bill to favor Illinois owners in stabling in that state and he has reintroduced the bill this year." Question "What Suggestions Can Be Made to Tighten Foal Registration Procedures?" Mr. Cassidy said that The Jockey Club felt that the authenticity of colts can better be established by having reports sent to The Jockey Club within 24 hours of the coverage of the mare, by the owner of the mare, and a coverage statement filed by the owner of the sire at the same- time, rather than await the end of the breeding season. Mr. Cassidy also said: "We think it may be necessary even to have field crews go out from The Jockey Club later to authenticate breeding and, if necessary, take pictures of the foals with the mares in the field, all of which, of course, would be rather expensive. Maybe at the same time we could tattoo them and file the complete description with the markings. We feel that a lot should be done to tighten it up and we would welcome suggestions from breeders or owners." Mr. Hancock did not feel that the pictures or early tattooing would be of much help, but favored the idea of daily reports. Mr. Jacobs thought that the breeders could, without special equipment, take adequate pictures of each foal and his chestnuts within two weeks of foaling. Mr. Hancock and Mr. Whitney suggested that the pictures would not necessarily prevent fraud, as mares and foals could be interchanged and photographed at will. Mr. Cassidy said that he thought that a covering certificate as of the date of covering, coupled with the affidavit of a witness at the time of foaling would be satisfactory. Mr. Perlman suggested that a slight raise in the registration fee would enable The Jockey Club to have a representative in important areas. Mr. Hancock agreed that one man checking foals in such an GEORGE D. WIDENER Chairman of The Jockey Club. area, as Kentucky would eliminate any switching of foals. Question "Should the Use of Hormones and Vitamins Be Allowed?" Mr. Phipps was the first to comment on this question, saying: "It seems to me weve had the question of doping for a great many years and it certainly was very bad and injurious to the horse in the old days when narcotics were given. Then we passed a rule that no stimulant ! should be given a horse. We employed 1 methods to check on the "honesty of the people and we thought we had checks sufficient to apprehend anybody who did stimulate. It has come up lately that, because i we have no quantitative analysis, anything - such as hormones, vitamins or adrenalin 1 can be given to the horse, and we have no way of telling whether it has been administered or not. A great many trainers are doing this now, and is it fair to the ones ; who are sticking to the letter of the law? Also, hormones, vitamins and adrenalin, which are parts of the body of the horses ; 1 secretions, probably do not injure the i horse." Mr. Perlman said that he felt that the i New York law, which does not merely bar stimulants but any drug at all, was wrong. . ! Mr. Kelley said : "I think this particular thing has very r strong implications in connection with public-relations ... I feel that the rule in New York is terribly indefinite and very vague. . I think it is unfair to racing in its relation to the general public. Frequently a fellow r will be put down for a short period of suspension or perhaps not even suspended at t all, and the uninformed and uninitiate will I feel that something rather wrong has been i winked at where it may be that hes just used a thing that is not actually doping " Mr. Cassidy said, in part: "We are happy that we dont have to suspend somebody simply because the rule i says he must be suspended if his horse is j found to have been administered a drug. ; The rule in New York does not make that t mandatory, and where the stewards havent t found any evidence of guilt and thats s been in about four cases they havent suspended the trainers. I think New York has 3 ! 1 i - 1 ; ; 1 i i . ! r . r t I i i j ; t t s 3 the only rule by which thats permissible and we think its good." Mr. Whitney said: "It seems to me theres still a very real distinction between administering vitamins and hormones as medication and as a stimulant. . .We are talking about a massive dose in one case administered certainly by hypodermic in- jection, and I dont see how you could pos- sibly ever agree that that was admissible . . .Were back to the age old problem of how do you prevent stimulation by means of narcotic or any other commodity, which is a policing job, it seems to me, rather than one that a rule could possibly cover." Mr; Bower said he felt that the problem was important enough for something to be done by the veterinarians and racing chemists, while Mr. Perlman and Mr. Cassidy said that a great deal of sesearch is being done by the chemists. Mr. Perlman said that the chemists recently discussed the problem from the standpoint that there are medicines that a horse should be per- mitted to take as aids to health, citing a drug that acts against bloodworms but is not allowed. Mr. Hancock, supported by Mr. Burch, deplored the use of male hormones test-r osterone on fillies. After citing figures indicating that he has noted a sharp de-l cline in the pregnancy rate of maiden mares, Mr. Hancock said, "Its very true that testosterone, administered to a female in season, will eventually cause a pouch or sac to come on the uterus, which will prevent her from coming in season. I dont know whether it will prevent her for life or whether its just a question of a year or two years until she absorbs it. But we do have a very bad record now for breed- ing maiden mares and we used to have a very good one." Mr. Whitney concluded, "The prevention of the use of any hypodermic application of these compounds might be a thing to be studied." CThis is the first of a series of six articles. The second will be published tomorrow
