view raw text
HITCHCOCK AGAINST USE OF TOE CALKS BY J. L. DEMPSEY. SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y., August 2C F. R. Hitchcock, a steward of the Jockey Club, and who is one of the stewards of the current meeting of the Saratoga Association, announced yesterday that at the annual meeting of the Jockey Club next Jan-nary he would propose a rule doing away with toe calks on all racing plates. --. "Two horses have been destroyed and three or four badly cut down through the use of these toe calks at the present meeting," said Mr. Hitchcock, "and I think it is time that we called a halt. Toe calks are forbidden on English and French courses, and there is an exhibit on all French tracks of what are termed fair and unfair racing plates, and the penalty is exceedingly severe for using the latter type. I would make the penalty for the use of such plates come in the same class as fraudulent practices, which would include the electric battery and other devices of that sort. I have talked with many good horsemen and they all agree that horses can run. in the mud with smooth plates. I would not rule against heel calks, as no damage could be inflicted with thcni."
