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RACING ROUND TABLE Current Questions Discussed 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 handicappcr; 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, has summarized the views expressed in a series of articles, of which this is the fourth. Question "In View of the Acute Stall Situation Which How Exists and as a Means Toward Cutting Down Mass Production, Why Not a Reintroduce the Gelding Allowance; b Raise the Foal Registration Fee?" Mr. Burch and Mr. Hancock felt that the gelding allowance would not cut down the production of foals, but Mr. Ryan said: "It may give a man an incentive if he thinks hes going to get three pounds to cut a gingerbread two-year-old instead." Mr. Hancock: "Anyone who has mares is going to breed them. It will improve your sires, but it wont do anything for your over-production. Of course, I dont agree with you that there is any over-production. Mr. Ryan: "You dont come up against the stall situation." Mr. Cassidy: "Maybe its under-production of stalls." Mr. Perlman: "I think that the main problem is the fact that far too many horses want to race in the wintertime." He added that at Hialeah there were approximately 3,600 horses for 360 races at the meeting. Mr. Ryan repeated that he thought restoration of the gelding allowance would possibly cut down some of the bad breeding, but Mr. Ortell and Mr. Burch said they thought the effect would be very small. Mr. Burch then asked to make a suggestion to Mr. Widener. "On that three-pound allowance for geldings, I think it might be worth something to us if we did not allow the gelding allowance in stakes, which are mostly handicaps, anyway. If we didnt allow the gelding allowance in stakes, I dont think it would do any harm to our races, and I think it would help out breeding." Mr. Hancock agreed, but Mr. Cassidy did not feel that sufficient people favored the gelding allowance to change the rule. Question "The Ever-Growing: Problem of Stalls Harries Both the Public Breeder and the Small Breeder Who Races His Horses. Many Prospective Customers of the Highest Type Are Afraid to Enter the Game Because They Have Heard That Stalls Will Be Unavailable to Them. Also, Many Small Breeders Are Unable to Secure Stalls When They Desire to Race. Perhaps a Partial Answer Would Be the Development of an Export Market. In This Line, It Is Interesting to Note That While Purse Distribution Has Increased Seventy Per Cent, from 1945 to 1951, Yearling Prices Have, In the Same Period, Declined Twenty Per Cent." This was Mr. Hancocks question and he confirmed the decline in yearling prices, which was queried by Mr. Perlman, who added that the figures were hot right in relation to good horses, but only in relation to volume. Mr. Cassidy pointed out that an increase of 100 per cent, in stalls on Long Island would not ease the demand to the extent that no owners would be shut out. He added: "If you were to double your stalls in any locality, you dont improve racing there because it spreads the money around too much, there are too many horses there and not enough races to keep them going." Mr. Hancock declared: "The incentive for the breeder is not there any more to try to breed a horse when mainly all of your races are from 0,000 down to ,500." Mi. Phipps: "I think one trouble is, especially on a Saturday, theres a stake at Monmouth, New England and Delaware. So those horses which would fill a secondary feature, say, are all running in a stake somewhere." Mr. Perlman: "I think the opportunities today to breed good horses have never been as good, because the purses are just going up all over the place. I think the problem is that every racetrack is trying so hard to fill races with good horses and cant get HIRSCH JACOBS them. The good horses simply arent there for the opportunities." Question: "Purse Distribution; It Seems that the Opportunity for the Middle Class Horse Has Diminished. A Horse Must Be Able to Compete in Stakes or Drop Directly Into Claiming Races If He Is to Have a Reasonable Earning Capacity." Mr. Cassidy: "I dont believe thats true in New York." Mr. Hancock then cited figures showing that the field for the Kent Stakes had earned approximately 40,000, while the ,500 platers entered in the last race of the day had earned the same amount in the last two years, while the starters in a good allowance race that day had earned only 0,000. Mr. Hancock declared that Jamie K. had amassed 5,000 of the total won by the Kent starters, but Jamie K. was not in that race. He was apparently referring to the Leonard Richards Stakes. Mr. Hancock also said: "I believe anyone with average intelligence can go into a claiming race for ,500 and claim a sound horse that will run over a distance of ground, and run him 52 times in the next year and triple his money. Ive seen it done too often." N Mr. Jacobs disputed this statement, saying it overlooked the unsuccessful claims. Mr. Cassidy stated that the ,500 horse has more opportunities because there are. more horses of that category, estimating that 75 per cent at any track are the cheaper grade. Mr. Hancock agreed, but declared: "Youre going to find the average earnings of the ,500 horse is a good deal more than the average earnings of the 0,000 horse who runs for a ,500 purse. I think its wrong." Mr. Perlman: "The opportunities are there for those horses, but you cant fill the races. Many days in New York the reason that you see two claiming races and two maiden races is simply because the other races for better horses didnt fill." Mr. Hancock: "Cant the man who allocates the stalls control that situation some way?" Mr. Cassidy: "How?" Mr Hancock: "I dont know, Im not on that end of it." Mr. Cassidy: "What we try to do is get the best horses we can and have as many races for the best horses as will fill. Thats the objective of New York racing." Mr. Perlman: "At tracks like Arlington Park, New York, Delaware and Monmouth Park, every day that theyve got three good races carded, two of them are out and they have to put on a substitute or split another race. The problem isnt that there arent enough races for the good horses, its that they dont fill. There arent enough of those horses for competition. In fact, that is probably one of our great problems. If we had enough horses, in my opinion, today, to fill the good races, that would gradually eliminate those bad horses, because there would be no races for them." Mr. Jacobs: "I think the whole set-up has been wrong for a long time. The difference in the purses between the better grade horses and the cheap horses is very little. You have a ,500 race for your cheapest horses, while the best horses on the ground may be running for a ,000 or ,500 purse. . .Thats why so many of those good horses earn hardly anything at all. Take Hollywood Park. . .They could have made a lot of those races seven, eight or 10 thousand for the better horses. But instead of that, they raised the ,000 horses and let them run for ,000. It wasnt right. . .The cause of that HBPA difficulty was with a lot of racing secretaries who put on a better grade of races that they knew werent going to fill, then substituted a cheaper race. . .One racing secretary used to brag about that. Hed put on a lot of trick races he knew had no chance of filling." Question "Should There Be Fifth Place Money?" Mr. Widener, Mr. OBrien and Mr. Cassidy said "No," while Mr. Jacobs said, "I was always under the impression that to the victor go the spoils." Mr. Burch said that the only place where it would help would be in filling long races. Mr. Perlman then said that he had given considerable study to this question and had found that increasing purse money was not a solution to the basic unsoundness of racing economy. He pointed out that regardless of the size of purses, 90 per cent, of horses cant pay their way. "You cant run a race meeting with just winners," the publisher said. "Youve only got eight winners a day and you have to have 80 horses. Its not sound that all but 10 per cent, of the horsemen who put on the show must lose money. .This whole purse distribution, as it exists today, is unsound and its unsound from the standpoint of the racetrack owner. . .1 dont say that fifth money is the answer to it at all, but I think you have to study it. I think that the problems of the tracks with -the horsemen are going to continue unless some way is found for the people who race horses to make a living out of it. "This public stable situation, such as that in California, has become a menace. There you have four men who control 300 "horses. You can see what it leads to. They can control jockeys. . .1 dont say they do, but the possibility exists that they can control races. "It is not logical when you read in the paper of billions bet each year and tracks handling two million a day, while 90 per cent, of the horsemen have to lose money . . .And it has nothing to do with the purses. The pmses are big enough, but theyre going to too few people. . .1 know what the evil is, but I havent got the answer to it." Mr. Widener: "The great problem is that -everything costs so much today, your labor, feed and so forth." Mr. Perlman : "Yes, but take a race track like Santa Anita last year. They gave away an average of 5,000 a day in purses do. you know that 40 per cent, of the stables that raced there didnt win one dollar?" To be continued.
