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RACING ROUND TABLE Current Questions Discussed 1 , ; ; I , L l s EDITORS NOTE Last. July 1, a group of men intimately connected with racing in various capacities met at the invitation of The Jockey Club in its New York offices and discussed informally numerous phases of the sport. The panel consisted of George D. Widener, Ogden Phipps and John Hay Whitney, representing The Jockey Club; Marshall Cassidy, steward; John B. Campbell, racing secretary and handicapper; 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. Bob Horwood, staff writer of this newspaper, lias summarized the views expressed in a series of articles, of which this is the third. Question "Why Do We Not Enter Forty-Eight Hours Before a Race Instead of Twenty-Four Hours We Do for Mondays Races Without Trouble ?" Mi. Campbell declared : "Well, every hour we enter ahead of time makes it worse for the association. If you enter 48 hours ahead of time, youve got 24 more hours for track conditions to change, or a horse to get sick, to wreck a race. You do it on Saturday for Monday, and it would be better if we took entries on Sunday, but nobody wants to work on Sunday. If you enter 48 hours before a race its no benefit to anybody that I know of." Mr. Perlman and Mr. Campbell then exchanged views, the publisher maintaining that the fact that Monday races filled as well, or better, than those for other days disproved any objections, while the racing secretary insisted that full advantage should be taken of every hour of delay. Mr. Perlman then saidy-in part: "It has no advantage to us The Morning Telegraph and Daily Racing Form at all, but it would be a great advantage for the other newspapers if entries were closed earlier in the day, say at 9 oclock in the morning, because the handicappers just dont have a chance. How can a man get entries at 1 oclock and do a decent job in making the line, prices, comments and handicaps? The handicappers dont do justice to themselves, the public doesnt get a decent break, because the handicappers do not have sufficient time to do it. Its far less of a hardship for us because we dont go to press until 6:30 at night. Generally speaking, I think New York entries are closed better than any place in the country. . .but I think if entries were closed at 9 oclock you could start taking them the previous afternoon. . .1 know its a great advantage to the newspapermen and to the racetrack, because every edition thats published would carry entries. Some days you miss a million in circulation." Mr. Burch agreed with Mr. Perlman, but also agreed with Mr. Campbell that early closing would sometimes cause races to scratch down, while Mr. Jacobs said that he felt that early closing would be hard on the associations. Mr. Ortell asked -to supplement Mr. Perlmans statement, saying that he believed that this year the New York newspapers supported racing wholeheartedly, but that the afternoon newspapers find it almost impossible to publish entries when they are late, owing to a conflict with Wall Street material in the composing rooms. In response to a suggestion from Mr. Burch, Mr. Campbell said that taking en-. tries the previous afternoon might make some races difficult to fill as it would become known that an apparently unbeaten horse had made an early entry. Mr. Campbell also said that he had conducted two polls among horsemen which showed them overwelmingly in favor of a late closing. Mr. Kelley then made the following statement in reply to a remark by Mr. Campbell which was deleted from the transcript of the proceedings: "I think its important to stop talking about hardship on the newspapermen. Its not a hardship on the newspapermen. If they cant get the entries they cant get them. The hardship eventually falls on racing and the purpose of this meeting to my mind is to try to get a universal idea of what is good and what is bad for racing. Frank Ortell speaks of the machines being lost to the stock market. Its not hurting Frank, its hurting racing. I think its important to get that fact in mind. The newspapermen are not asking favors for themselves. They are asking for the ability to do a better job for the eventual good of racing. If racing can get along without the public, why then they can go ahead and do it. But it cannot get along without the public and the newspapermen are not fighting anyone, or criticisingitnyone. They JOHN B. CAMPBELL Racing secretary . and handicapper at all New York tracks participated in the Racing Round Table discussions. are simply trying to do as good a job as they can because hey, too, are a part of racing. If racing fails, they fail and they lose their jobs." Question "Why Dont the Racing Associations Have More Optional Claiming: Races, With Beaten Races as Part of the Conditions? This Move Would Serve to Stop Racketeering." Mr. Campbell said that he was experimenting with optional claiming races to see how they work out. He added, "I cant say I like very much of them." Mr. Cassidy endeavored to obtain a specific idea of the value of optional claiming races. Mr. Jacobs said that optional claiming races offered some protection to owners of young horses, but Mr. Cassidy replied that "the rule is just protecting a man against his judgment. If he thinks his horse is worth ,000arid runs him in a ,000 claiming race and he wins, then he is supposed to use his judgment to run him for ,500 or 0,000 or in a condition race." Mr. Bower said, referring to ,000 horses, "The trouble is you have a horse you want to keep, hes a useful horse, but you have no place to race him except in a claiming race." Mr. Cassidy agreed, saying, "Of course, thats the category. Thats the only category we have." Mr. Jacobs then outlined the California system of optional claimers, which compel winners to move up in class, or risk being claimed, and concluded, "Nobodys putting anything over by it that way. Everyone has some young horses, or any kind of horses hed like to keep." Question "Do Grooms and Other Stable Help Have to Sleep in Stables?" Mr. Cassidy explained that this question was intended to learn if sleeping accommodations should be provided outside the stables, or whether grooms are needed there for the protection of horses at night. Mr. Burch, Mr. Rutchick and Mr. Jacobs said that men should not be allowed to .sleep in the stables. There was considerable discussion of a proposal by Mr. Cassidy that owners grouped in a barn without a pi"ivate watchman should hire such a man on a pro rata basis. Mr. Ryan thought the management should engage the watchman, but that he should be paid by the horsemen, while Mr. OBrien objected to management selecting the employee on the ground that he would be blamed for anything that went wrong with the horses during the night. Mr. Cassidy suggested that grooms might sleep in stables if their quarters were properly protected from the expansion of fire, and Mr. Bower said that that had worked very well at Keeneland, where three tack rooms at the end of each barn have been built of concrete block with concrete floors. Question "Why Not Establish a Closed Area of the Stable Section Like at Santa Anita?" It was pointed out by Mr. Jacobs that, gate attendants at New York tracks are much less strict than at Santa Anita, and it was agreed that a firmer policy was necessary. Question "Why Cant the Racing Association Increase the Police Force Where It Is Most Needed, in the Stable Area? These Men Could Do a More Efficient Job If. They Worked on Foot, and Thoroughly Checked Conditions in Each Barn Every Day." Mr. Rutchick pointed out that the prands-l ent track police work from cars at night and are unable to detect undesirables sleeping in stalls. Mr. Cassidy agreed that they should work on foot. Question "Would a Universal Claiming Rule Be Desirable?" Mr. Cassidy thought it would, while Mr, Jacobs said that something that would work in one area might riot in another. Mr. Perlman said that a special committee of the National Association of State Racing. . Commissioners is trying to obtain unifqrrrir ity in this and other rules and, suggested that a recommendation from The Jockey Clubwould gain more consideration than one from any other source. Question "Why Not Have a Standard Form as a Receipt for Owner or Trainer of The Jockey Club Papers Deposited at the Race Track? This Form Could Be Used If -Track Should Lose or Destroy the Original Papers." Mr. Cassidy said that New York already has such a system and Mr. Hancock said that it would be instituted in Kentucky , this fall. It was agreed that such receipts were desirable protection, particularly in the case of foal certificates that might be destroyed by fire. Question "Why Cant AU New York Tracks Have a Regular Projection Room With s Seats for Jockeys?" Mr. Jullien: Id love to have one if I couldfind the space .for it." MrOBrien: "Wed like to have one, too, if we had the space." Mr. Phipps: "When will that be?" Mr. OBrien: "Thats the 4 question." Mr. Jullien: "Theres a survey under was that hasnt been completed as yet." To Be Continued
