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photo photo finish, finish, and and y New Jersey 1— By Teddy Cox ■ Film Patrol Eliminates Tricks and Boners Vet Recalls a Fast One Just to Get Even Disbelieving Steward Spins a Better Yarn GARDEN STATE PARK, Camden. N. J.. May 16.— During our highly interesting stay at this smart model of track operation. Wilford Mullins. a former trainer and son-in-law of the late immortal horseman. Tom Healey, and ex-jockey Jimmy Stout have been extremely cooperative in showing us films of races where questionable incidents occurred. The film patrol, like the photofinish and the starting gate, are among the wonders of the thoroughbred racing world. You know for a fact that the old-time placing judges pulled thousands of boners before the advent of the you 3U also also know know that that the the film film patrol patrol photo photo finish, finish, and and y you 3U also also know know that that the the film film patrol patrol eliminates all sorts of possibilities that existed when there were no pictures of this type. Bill Crump, former crack reinsman, a ranking trainer and also one who dabbled for a time as a racing official, tells an interesting story that could not have been told had the photofinish and the film patrol been employed back in the early 20 s. We were in Maryland in the fall of the year," relates the colorful Crump, "and I was doing good and we had some of the great riders of modern times in competition. Well, anyway, one day I swung out at the top of the stretch, and then my horse continued to drift and we finished skirting the outside rail, but I was five or six lengths in front and I didnt care about the loss of ground. When I returned to unsaddle, I looked over at the board and I couldnt find my number. I checked my saddle cloth and my arm number to see if I wasnt dreaming, but sure enough, my number wasnt up there. Wasnt even in the money. Vhe race wasnt official yet and I dashed across the track to the stewards stand they werent on the roof in those days and ran up the steps. Judges Just Didnt See It "The stewards thought I wanted to claim a foul, but when I told them that I had won and that my number wasnt on the board, they told me to get-ta-hell-outta-the stand in no uncertain terms. Frankly, the owner had bet on the horse for me and I had some mutuel tickets in my boot and the horse was 70-to-l. I was hot as a firecracker, and I guess I used some language that wasnt, respectful. Anyway. I was called before the officials the next morning. I continued to maintain that I had won, but they wouldnt entertain such a thought. Instead, they reprimanded me severely, and once again I got angry. I told them Id get even if it took the remainder of my life. And I got even. too. •Several weeks later it was near the end of the season and there was a blinding snowstorm and you couldnt see your hand in front of you. I decided this was the day to get even with the stewards. There were twelve horses in the last race, So I warmed my horse up and then stopped him about five-sixteenths of a mile from the finish on the turn. I remained there, too. and they sent the field away. When I got a glimpse of the horses making the bend out of the backstretch, I broke my horse off and we finished about thirty lengths in front of the field. "As I finished under the wire, I yelled up to the stewards see if you can miss this one, too! Well, the stewards called me in again, and this time they asked me what I meant by what I yelled as I crossed the finish line. I told them I had promised to get even, and that I did. I told them I did not start with the rest of the field, that my horse ran only five-sixteenths of a mile in a mile and one-sixteenth race. They didnt believe me, and they chased me out of the room. A couple of them have passed on since, and they went to their grave believing I was playing a hoax on them." No Records to Substantiate Story Before writing this, we checked into the records and found Crump had never been in trouble of any kind, and the thought occurred that publication of such a story might not set well with the local board of stewards — George R. Palmer, Keene Dainger field and Earl S. Potter. So we told them the story as it was related. Like the officials of old. they said they didnt believe it. either; that it would be okay by them if it were published. But, like the trainer who usually says he always has a better horse in his barn than the well-known star, Palmer came up with one better. "There was a time when I was a kid and we were racing in the bushes out in the West, and there was a big bank on the far turn, he relates, and it obscured the horses. One day one of the jocks galloped up to the bank, which obscured all vision, and remained there while the field was being dispatched. "He. too. broke off at the opportune time and finished in front, at which one of the trainers complained. He told the stewards that he counted horses when they started and when they finished and that six started and seven finished. He charged that the winner had hidden behind the bank. The decision by the official was astonishing: Well, son, the official grunted," continued Palmer, "there may be something in what you say, so in this case, Im disqualifying the winner and placing him second."
