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Rider Thinks Determine Well Named "His grace and the effortless ease of his long smooth stride had me fooled," said Erb. "I pride myself as a fair judge of pace, but I must admit he baffled me, and when I dismounted I had no conception that we had broken a world record. We lay second to Mister Gus until about the quarter pole when I urged him mildly, and we pulled away. When Determine made his bid I continued to hand ride him and did not hit him with my whip at any stage of the race. Make no mistake, Determine is a well-named horse, a good horse, but I did not feel that we were threatened." Erb was also greatly impressed by the attitude of the patrons at Hollywood, stating that he. had never before seen such an enthusiastic crowd give such a wholehearted ovation to the winner. "I really believe, said Erb, tnat the crowd would have cheered Swaps even if he had been beaten. I would have to string with him in any match race." While racing is the most closely supervised sports, and trainers admit that it is proper that responsibility for the condition of horses should rest with them, one wonders if the conditioners are always accorded the maximum of protection possible. A situation in point was rather dramatically brought to our attention here the other day. A trainer of a quite respectable string of horses had employed a groom unknown to him, but with obvious knowledge of the work. For several days the man went about his job and sent some of the stables horses to the post before a representative of the Thoroughbred Racing and Protective Bureau informed the trainer that the man had quite a record with narcotics. The man was dismissed at once, but the trainer was in a hot spot until the time elapsed for the return of saliva and urine tests. In a rather unusual situation a groom must have a job before he is granted a-license which negates protection for the trainer that might be presumed to go with the license. Nefarious characters are not averse to resorting to the use of a name other than their own or to carelessness in handling the truth. It must be admitted that trainers themselves are somewhat lax in the selection of help, but are often acting under the pressure that comes with an undermanned stable. Compulsory photographing and fingerprinting have been advanced as a solution, but have met with opposition in some quarters. An independent group of trainers once recommended an employment agency on the backstretch with records kept of applicants for jobs, but nothing has come from this suggestion.
