Workings of Film Patrol Shown at Racing Clinic: Apprentice Stevenson and Steward Rainey Are Questioned by Writers, Daily Racing Form, 1952-05-16

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Workings of Film Patrol Shown at Racing Clinic Apprenticejtevenson and Steward Rainey Are Questioned by Writers By FRED GALIANI Staff Corresvondent GARDEN STATE PARK, Camden, N. J., May 15.--The culprit, the judge and the evidence were all present at the weekly racing clinic at the Pen and Pencil Club Monday. Said culprit was jockey Robert I Louis Stevenson, just finished with, a 10-day suspension, steward Cal Rainey, one of those who set him down, and the actual film patrol shots that caused Stevensons set down. The workings of the film" patrol, in use for the first time at this track, were shown to about 30 members of the press at the luncheon. A Jockey Club feature film, with shots of various fouls, committed at the break, on the turns in the stretch, and most any place on a track, were first shown to the gathering and then the actual pictures of the race in which Stevenson was guilty of a foul. Following custom the press was invited to question Cal Rainey and many of them did so; No questions are barred at these sessions. Rainey explained how the film patrol offered concrete evidence in backing up the stewards when they detected any rough or careless riding. The films, taken from five cameras at various parts of the track, can be stopped, rerun and even run backwards. When there is evidence of a foul, the boy is suspended. The shots of the previous days races are shown every morning and jockeys and horsemen are free to attend. A boy who is being set down is shown his infractions, recorded on film, and given a chance to explain how it happened. And often many boys sit in and discuss various incidents in a race. Rainey claimed the film patrol has cut down a good part of rodeo riding, made for better racing and helped prevent accidents which could cause serious injuries, or even death. When asked if some old-timers who are set in their ways would be handicapped by the film patrol, Rainey said that they would either have to change their ways or ride some place else. And in the same manner, he doubted that any veteran, sly in the ways of borderline riding, would be able to get by with any tricks. Perhaps once, said Rainey, but he would eventually be caught. Stevenson admitted his foul and both he Ut f »G t f f , and the stewards agreed it was not deliberate. As the 18-year-old apprentice boy put it, "In the heat of the race I was just trying to save as much ground as possible and when I cut over to the inside I didnt see, the third horse down on the rail." Stevenson, a native of Philadelphia, was accorded a nice hand, for after all, as Rainey said, it took a lot of courage for the young apprentice to come over and face the stewards, the films and the press, especially for a boy who has not been riding too long.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1952051601/drf1952051601_41_2
Local Identifier: drf1952051601_41_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800