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Size of Field to Decide Minimum at River Downs To Remain ,500 if Ten or More Go or Cut to ,300 With Less RIVER DOWNS, Cincinnati, Ohio, June ; 5. Leon Slavin, president of River Downs, held a meeting with the HBPA president, - Raymond E. Pollock, and the representatives of that organization in this area early this week. This morning, the following notice to all 1 horsemen was distributed and was signed 1 by Slavin and Pollock. "Play and attendance are down drastically from last year. We can attribute J some of this to economic conditions in. 1 this area. However, we feel that it is also partly due to the late closing of entries 3 and very small-size fields. There are an 1 adequate number of horses in each class 5 and a liberal number of condition races 3 being written to have larger fields than 1 has been the case. The following remedy 7 has been suggested: "Rather than agree to a set reduction J of purses at this time, and for the period of the second condition book, June 6 5 through June 18, there will be a bonus s system set up on all minimum purse races 5 ,500 whereby these purses will carry, .a x value of ,300 unless 10 or more entries s are obtained and start. If these numbers are obtained the purse will be reinstated 1 to the full condition book value of ,500. J; No purse other than those races carrying a value of ,500 will be affected by this rule." Before closing of the entries here this s morning, confusion reigned supreme in the e racing secretarys office. The misunderstanding I resulted in a mere trickling of entries up to 11:30 a.m. when another meeting was called. William E. Russell, committeeman of the e Ohio division of the HBPA, addressed the body of horsemen which were summoned into the racing secretarys office and the afore-quoted notice to the horsemen was interpreted. Slavir, at the time, announced that the bonus system would go into effect when the entries are drawn on next Monday for Tuesdays card.
