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BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS BELMONT PARK Elmont L I N Y May 4 Marshall Cassidy ex ¬ ecutive secretary of The Jockey Club remarks that he has given up any thoughts that The Jockey Club pool plan for officials would become form ¬ al and standard procedure on major American tracks but at the same time it is evident that the plan has nevertheless won more widespread acceptance volun ¬ tarily so to speak and it would not be surprising to see more stewards requested by different managements from The Jockey Club list Of course the idea for a pool was not that of Cassidy but rather was broached by Alfred Gywnne Vanderbilt Cassidy till has a roster of of ¬ ficials who are aailable and if a track asks for one of these stewards he does his best to fill the request Because of the misconceptions about the whole thing there has been some annoyance attached to the pool remarks Cassidy Too many people did not think the idea through and some failed to realize that able stewards anywhere would not be affected but that the following of such a plan only could have been a cause for alarm of a few people who did not measure up to the highest standards This season for instance we have had requests for a recommendation for a steward or stew ¬ ards from 14 different race tracks This is a new record and there is an indication that even more managements will like to avail themselves of this service in the years ahead This writer can reveal that The Jockey Club was unable to fill some applications from as far away as New Mexico La Mesa Park a new TRA member had asked for a steward and while one was not available from the New York area the need was filled on the advice and recommendation of a Jockey Club member Carleton Burke Steward Pool Plan Growing Despite Knocks Chicagos Harry Sheer Soaked in Tradition Billy Byers Tells Plan to Assemble Stable Report AtomActive Thoroughbreds in Japan JapanHarry Harry Sheer director of good will for ArlingtonWash ¬ ington Parks is back in Chicagoland after a week spent at Churchill Downs soaking up tradition and in future off seasons Sheer will be dispatched to different racing centers from time to time to make notes and perhaps get ideas whereby the public relations of the two Lindheimer tracks already on a high plane could be upgraded even further This means the man will bob up at Hialeah Santa Anita and New York to study the applied public relations programs hi those areas From our observation we feel that each metropolitan area in the United States has individual problems but at the same time some basics as developed in certain areas can be borrowed to good advantage by others Sheer incidentally has undertaken the monumental chore of compiling a file on every owner trainer jockey and thoroughbred racing at Arlington Washington and when any turf writer asks any con ¬ ceivable question he will have the answer at his finger ¬ tips I learned a lot at Churchill Downs Sheer told me just before we left Kentucky but I also was convinced that ArlingtonWashington are on the right path in their fundamental public relations approach approachA A A A AWhoever Whoever said travel is broadening had it right for a more frequent exchange of ideas between and among race tracks can only serve in the public interest It is particu ¬ larly gratifying that California turf executives have seen fit of late to get the tourinj habit in search of new ideas or worthwhile adaptations of old ones even though hi some respects California has been a leader in many ideas which have been of great benefit to racing We might mention the film patrol at least its development to the practical stage as being one outstanding example Jim Stewart vicepresident and general manager of Holly ¬ wood Park has just completed a trip which has taken him as a technical observer to New York Maryland Florida during the season there Mexico City and Churchill Downs Golden Gate Fields a recently elected member of TRA has an observer at the Derby for the first time in Chuck Coughlin vicepresident and general manager As we see it the great lesson to be learned by all men ¬ tioned above is the skillful blending of tradition and the economic facts of racing as exemplified by the Derby where tradition transcends all Billy Byers of Texas owner of Cys First and who as his name would indicate is Citations first foal came on to New York for a bit of racing following the Derby and tells us that only illness last year prevented him from carrying out his intention of entering the market for a stable of made horses which could race in his interest while the younger horses were reaching racing maturity But now that Im feeling better Im going to go ahead with the plan as originally scheduled Cys First is at Claiborne in the capable hands of Bull Hancock will be broken there and wont come to the races until spring time and place to be decided by Hancock he said The way some of the new Texas people are entering racing is most gratifying to turf leaders Most of them toying with the notion of owning a stable as of the moment ars en ¬ tering the sport with a degree of caution and on a small scale at least in comparison to their finances But by byContinued Continued on Page ThirtyNine BETWEEN RACES RACESBy By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page FortyEight FortyEightfollowing following this practice they are in effect insuring themselves from the possibility of becoming overhorsed a situation which often has led to bitter disappointment the souring of the new patron and as quick an exit from the ranks of owners as was the enrolling Many such patrons while well able to withstand the financial battering have been far more mortified by lack of success than any monetary consideration involved involvedA A A A AHorses Horses and People Theres an old saying that Nothing new ever happens in racing but consider this Word comes to us from the West that a shipment of thoroughbreds from New Zealand to Japan showed up in Nippon showing uranium activity Gei ger counters clicked along at a rapid pace when the ship and thoroughbreds were tested as a routine measure after having unwittingly steamed through the path of prevailing winds from the site of South Pacific hydrogen bomb tests Extent of the radioactivity of the thoroughbreds was not know in this country but presumably it was not serious Reports from Cali ¬ fornia will not down that a segment of the HBPA leadership there will propose the Coast secede from the national group and sort of run their own show Whether such a withdrawal would actually transpire is another thing again Francis Dunne steward representing the New York Racing j Commission has been elected an honorary member of the turf chapter National Pun ¬ sters Association His puns arent bad badenough enough to qualify him as a charter member because Dunnes puns are overdunne re ¬ marks club president Harry Curland the West Coast turf caterer
