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1 Here and There on the Turf j Hew York Rests Easier Detroit Race to Be Duel Second L. A. Track Needed Horsemen to Be Stewards New York racings fear of competition on the western side of the Hudson river can he laid away in the cedar closet for another year or until the next session of the New Jersey legislature. The Jersey lawmakers Ld not see fit to pass on to the voters referendum on whether the state should permit pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, so there will be no tracks there for at least two years unless approval is forthcoming at a special session of the legislature, something that is highly improbable. As a consequence, the metropolitan circuit will continue to have the bookmaking method wagering through this year and next, mutu-els being impossible to obtain until 1937, unless the pari-mutuel resolution is brought up and passed at a special term of the New York legislators in time to go on the ballot in November. The vast majority of persons who maintain the big New York stables are satisfied with the present mode of wagering otherwise they either would be racing their horses somewhere else or would be out the sport. They take the attitude that racing is a means of pleasure and the book-making form of betting does not permit near as much commercialism in the operation of the tracks as do the pari-mutuels. Racing people in other sections of the country are well content to see pari-mutuels remain out of New York because continued success of the metropolitan circuit under the present system means the big stables and breeding studs will be kept intact. Should anything happen to the large eastern establishments, they believe the effect on racing in the remainder of the country would most damaging. Most regrettable is the fact that only three horses are due to start in the Detroit Challenge Cup, to which the Detroit Racing Association is adding 5,000. A purse this size deserves a larger field, but conditions for the event were such as to prevent a larger number of starters and with thoroughbreds so fragile as they are only three of the eight named for the race are in position to face the barrier. Fortunately, however, two of the three horses are among the best in the country and the clash between Mrs. Silas B. Masons Head Play and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilts Discovery should be an interesting affair. Fred Algers Azucar is the other starter but he has Continued on thii ty-second page. t I! ! , I a a r v s a I , J " of f l_ L it v it d r of »f I t_ _ 7 d ie d d y- g be e ly it [g of f g r_ ,g a a y lg e- ld y J- HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. demonstrated that he doesnt particularly care for the Detroit course. It is difficult to predict which of the two horses will rule favorite in the Challenge Cup. Head Play defeated Discovery in the Suburban Handicap when in receipt of nine pounds from the Vanderbilt record-breaker and they will be at level weights of 125 pounds tomorrow. However, Head Play displayed a corking effort over the track in winning the Derby Week Special and he has trained smartly for this engagement. Discovery has returned to his form, as witnessed by his sensational triumph in the Brooklyn Handicap, but Detroit racing enthusiasts may still remember his utter failure in the Detroit Derby last year and may reach the conclusion that, like Azucar, he is not very fond of the track. Th small field will assist Discovery, however, because he does his best running near the inner rail and he shouldnt have much trouble getting there. Norman Church, prominent California sportsman whose stable annually bags one or more of the big prizes and who was interested for a time in the proposal to construct another track in Los Angeles-, predicts another course for that vicinity sooner or later. Santa Anita, v/ith fifty days of racing, cannot offer enough good sport to lure the better stables from the E!ast, he said, but two good tracks, operating almost throughout the winter, will be able to do this. Bay Meadows attempted to hold the good horses this past winter by staging a March meeting, but that is the rainy season in the San Francisco Bay area and William P. Kynes track was beset with one shower after another. An opportunity is offered Agua Caliente to stage an attractive program next March to hold the better stables, but the sport will have to be in the hands of persons acceptable to eastern horsemen. During the coming meeting at Devonshire, the third steward in the stand will be selected daily from among the horsemen. This is a plan worthy of much thought and its operation at the Canadian course should be viewed closely. Too few of our racing officials today thoroughly understand the horse and a person cannot be a perfect or even a near-perfect steward without knowing something about the thoroughbred and his physical and mental make-up. Presence of a horseman in the stand at Devonshire will bring to the other officials information about horses that should aid them in coming to the proper solution of their problems. In the long history of the sport, suspicion towards trainers and jockeys has been aroused time and again because of the lack of understanding of horses. The horse always has had and always will have the final word.
