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. On the Trot I By MORRIE KURLANSKT 1 USTA Classification System Used Horse Is Placed by Gross Earnings Net Winnings More Logical MAYWOOD PARK. May wood, 111.. May 8. — Contrary to the thoroughbred sport where breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys. race-t rack manage- • ments, etc., have their own specific phase of the sport, harness rac- j ing is governed by an i all-inclusive body, the United States Trotting Association. The USTA J has absolute power. : which is shared only • with the various state racing commissions in the field of pari-mu-tual racing, over all t the different groups within its organiza-I tion. The USTA. for instance, is responsible for the classification system to be used : at all harness tracks in the country re-: gardless of whether these tracks conduct j pari-mutuel meetings or in the case of , county fair and stajte fair meetings non- wagering events. The classification system used now for several years when the so-called "time-bar system" proved impractical, is based on money won by a horse. These money -winning "classes range from group 30 non-winners of 00 all the way up to ! Free-For-All winners of 0,000 or more. Every trotter and pacer when embarking on his racing career starts out in class 30 and he will be placed in classified races only as his earnings accumulate. Actually a two- to four-year-old horse cannot be classified by a racing secretary until it has earned at least ,500. Thus while it seems that the money win classes applies only to young horses in the ! beginning of their racing career, this money-won system is of great importance insofar as it establishes eligibility for early-closing events conducted by a majority of pari-mutuel tracks. An overwhelming number of races at fair meetings as well as on the Grand Circuit close in advance and a horses eligibility is determined by his money earnings. It might be well to explain here that by money won the USTA. contrary to the usage in thoroughbred racing where a racing secretary in referring to non -winners of a certain amount concerns himself only with first place money, is defined as the total earnings of a horse accumulated in all of his in-the-money placings. So far so good. The harness horse people are entirely justified in handling their classification the way they see fit and over a number of years this money-won system has worked very well to the satisfaction of all interested parties. However, there is a great injustice done to a vast number of horses other than a few dozen of topnotch stakes winners in that all horses are charged with gross earnings instead of net money winnings. For many seasons, it was standard practice at most pari-mutuel tracks to charge a 2 per cent entrance fee in overnight races, in some cases modified to the extent that only the horses finishing in the money were charged the 2 per cent, which were then taken out of the winnings. A horse, for example, winning a ,000 race was charged with 00 on his eligibility card where in fact he earned only 80. This same horse in the course of a season started 30 times and finished in the money quite regularly, therefore was "overcharged" several hundred dollars at the end of his campaign. Now if this same horse started in a number of richer early closing events, where in most cases fees amount to 2 per cent of the advertised purse, and was successful in some of these races, the difference between charged and actual earnings probably was more than ,000. That this is an injustice can be seen from the fact that the horse in next years campaign instead of being eligible, lets say. to 20-class early closers, must compete in class 18. If the horse was a fairly good two- or three-year-old and belonged to one of the bigger stables that compete on the Grand 1 Circuit and therefore was staked in a i number of futurities, breeders stakes and so on, nominating fees, sustaining payments and starting fees easily amounted to several thousand dollars. There are only . half a dozen horses able to win the big ones like the Hambletonian, Little Brown Jug, Yonkers Futurity, Messenger Stakes, etc., but the majority of starters in these stakes j hardly won their fees back but were charged with whatever they won in gross earnings. In the case of the American National Stakes to be contested at Sportsmans Park through 1960 total fees amount to ,250 whereas payments for the Hambletonian Stake to be raced at Du Quoin will reach ,460 or ,960 depending on the number of starters and the winners of these races will be charged with a sum including these payments. To our way of thinking, it would be fairer to charge a horse only with his actual or net earnings and not with any payments made in order to start in a given race.
