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California Oscar Otis : By : Suspension Rule Arguments Continue Credit Union Rates Operation Success Years Test Proves Worth to Horsemen HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 18. It is somewhat astonishing to perceive that the Willie Shoemaker-Swaps-Californian incident has grown into a full scale fight to change the state rules of racing and go back to the old method whereby a rider may fill out all stake engagements on file regardless of a suspension, except where fraud is involved. We understand there will be a discussion of the rule at Wednesdays backstretch meeting of the California Horse Racing Board, at which time some of the "pressures" placed upon the Hollywood Park board of stewards over their suspension of Shoemaker on the eve of the rich Cah-fornian will come into the open. It is little short of amazing that there are any pressures to begin with, but pressures there nevertheless were. The fight against any change in the present rule will be based quite squarely upon the issue of the integrity of racing being above arid beyond the interests of Willie Shoemaker as an individual, Hollywood Park as a race track, or whether or not a horse like Swaps started in any race, and in this instance, specifically, the Californian. Risk Considered Normal Racing Hazard Those who are in favor of keeping the rule as it is db not agree that setting any individual rider down is an unjust penalty upon any owner. The risk of a suspension is a normal hazard of racing which an owner assumes, and failure of any given jockey to ride any given horse through suspension, is no more serious, in , the. end result, than failure to ride through other causes such as illness or injury. It also is held that the rule permitting a rider to accept stake engagements "during , terms of a suspension is a special privilege regulation for tlie few top riders. Nor sribuld rulings be predicated upon what might happen to be in the, best interests of a racing association. A matter of ethics and, broad moral turf principles are definitely involved in this situation, and the racing board will have to make a decision as to principle versus expediency. Until it had given itself enough time to prove itself, a backstretch credit association shunned all publicity, but now, after more than a year of successful operation, the association has taken stock of itself and deems -its efforts satisfactory. The credit association, was formed to help horsemen who found themselves in financial distress to get on a sourid fiscal footing. It is not a collection agency, as such, but dees endeavor to help a man who becomes involved or over his head in money riiatters to straighten himself out and in so doing help him retain a California Horse Racing Board license. It has been the policy of the board to either revoke or refuse, as the case may be, licenses to individuals who have shown a lack of financial responsibility. To no ones surprise, the credit association discovered that good business judgment and managerial ability is not always coupled with admitted training skill and a way with horses. While membership in the association is kept anonymous, it includes feed men, tack men, veterinarians, horseshoers as individuals, van men, and even pony boys. All are committed to the principle that if debts of an individual remain unpaid, they refuse service andor goods, even if cash is offered. The only alternative for the turfman is to either make an effort to set his financial house in order or face a condition which makes continued participation in the sport untenable. It can be said that after a years experience, the association has managed to put more people on a sound financial basis than you might imagine, and has even gone so far as to guarantee individuals to the racing board who faced loss of license. Sporting. Attitude Is Profitable Approach This corner, a long-time observer of racing, is convinced that paradoxical as it may seem, it nevertheless is true that the more sporting the attitude toward racing, the greater the chance of profitable operation of a stable. The wrong approach, taken by too many owners in particular, is the assumption "that the mere expenditure of money will insure, or should insure, success, and there still are people among us who believe that a horse which costs 0,000 automatically should beat a horse which cost ,000. Such commercial thinking as often as not leads to commercial disaster. However, a sporting attitude must be bulwarked by reasonable business sense and sound financial judgment. The quiet, but nonetheless, effective work of the credit association in helping horsemen to help themselves is just another landmark of the changing character of racing, and it is obvious that the old "pay you when the big horse wins" is gone forever. The change may be mourned by the old-timers, but such change was inevitable with the transformation of racing from a sport with a financial aspect of racing for bets except for the big, strictly sporting outfits to racing for . purses. In this respect, America has been somewhat ahead of world times, but the world trend is definitely toward the American plan. Agitation in this respect is most noticeable in England, where there has been a wave of unrest among owners and serious" suggestions have been advanced by responsible parties that additional emphasis must be placed on purses to enable owners to continue. When and if in England, the public begins to pick up the tab for racing, it also will, as in America, begin to some extent to call the tune.
