view raw text
Resolve to Race iiv Both Parts of Coast Same Time California Thoroughbred Breeders Send Copy of Plan to Racing Board By KENT COCHRAN Staff Correspondent LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 8 In a surprise move which startled some of the staid and conservative members of Californias racing and breeding industry, the board of directors of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association late Monday afternoon adopted ,a resolution which put it on record as being in favor of simultaneous racing over the major courses in northern and southern California. The board directed secretary Lou Rowan to forward a. copy of the resolution to the racing board. Heretofore, with but two short-period exceptions, there has never been an overlapping of racing dates between the two sections of the state, though the population centers are 500 miles apart. The tracks have sidestepped overlapping each other, because of split patronage and consequent diminished revenue. But factors in mitigation of these drawbacks have developed in recent years, and there has been more and more talk, especially among breeders and horsemen, of the overall desirability of a revamping and reforming of the entire situation as regards time and place of the states major race meeting. The points brought out in support of the resolution included the following: 1 Horsemen are finding it increasingly difficult to enter their horses. There are not enough races to provide necessary employment to the horses, and, as a result, nearly all the stables are operating in the red. 2 This is especially true of two-year-olds. More than 500 are stabled at Hollywood Park, and the juvenile stake races are going with short fields merely because trainers have been unable to develop their charges. As many as 75 "throwouts" in juvenile races are a daily occurrence. 3 The breeding industry, second only to that of Kentucky, is suffering because people are becoming afraid to buy yearlings owing to the difficulty of getting stall room for them, and those that are allotted stalls seldom get to race. 4 San Francisco race tracks, in order to avoid overlapping with southern tracks, have had to race in March and December, during inclement weather. San Franciscos best weather is between mid-April and mid-November. The section never, has had racing during June, July and August. 5 Stake races would have better competition, as top-class horses would shuttle back and forth between the section for special events, as is done in the East. 6 Californias tremendous population growth warrants simultanous racing, north and south, the sections being 500 miles apart, a distance considerably farther than that separating many prosperous tracks in the East which have less population frorn v-r which to draw.
