, 1881-05-08
Secretary Vail Approves OF the
Scheme and Suggests
Additions.
Luke Blackburn's Runaway-Sale OF
Sister to Director-Track
+ Talk, Etc.

Iue;1ts,-h4s recently been giving 1uflhc1
Thought to the cutrance matter. and has eFolseo
Il sche:iiv which has thus tnr met tue appro'u
of every hu.seman to whom its features nave
been presented. in conversation With a TnIB-
uSE man the other .iay MIR. lse,ns stated the sa-
Ucut points OF his 1}un rs follows:
~ nul1ccd recently in the Spirit o. u!c itfheS'
be said, editorial iu reference to the CLASSES
at the several points in the Ccntral ClrcufI 40"
we ali know that Americans take 1nure uAiurai!F
10 tro.tiug thuu 10 any other Sport, out
an1il recently it has bceu SURROUNDED
with SO many Objectionable features Us 10
drive away the only class Of people that can
ever make it succrSs.-the businessmen; anu
their families 1t is aiso evident thar important
changes ,cust be made before trottins will be-
come the National sport and be encouraged by
an annual subsidy from the Government, as ss
the case elsewhere. TO further develop inc
breeding interests The first change must nc III
tho direction of popniarixlng 1rottlng, thereby
securing q much larger attendance ut the meet
Jugs Some plan should bc adopted whereby
every race would be made hotIy-coutcsteu
.,nc, and alterations made iu the present system
OF entrance the effect OF whit:h will be tu give
the owner Of every borsc II ta.r and equal
chance IN every race. This 1lca 0: having the
entries foT all the meetings III Il circuit oi per
hnps six weeks i'll duration close ut the same
time Is nil wrong. Owners have learned by
costly experience that in every class there arc
one or TWO horses that can easily beat all the
others in that class, and through the entire en-
cult the race is practically reduced to hippo,
.irtu,c. Wedgrwood. Pulslna, Monroe Ch1cl. ana
Huttie Woodward were good illustrations last
year Of the evil effects Of the present sy stem.
"edgewood. Monroe Chief, md Parana n,tt' ga not
and Hattie ". would have bad an
equally unbroken record but for TIE
accident which bcfel her III SprinE1c!l,
pr,1f s.ad tina Inf
last year. This style vi thing is very ulce Tor
tue 1ntn who has the superior horse aud mas nlui
ers of the other horses it means heavy 1inancial
losses, and instead OF continuing 10 be patrons
Of the turf. us they would ii accorded iair
Show, they become disgusted and retire. This
style Ut racing Is bad for the trucks. People do
not care to sue race where one horse is known
TO be Il certain winner. barring accident, and
for the trucks. They are cutting their own
tnroats by continuing in the use OF such sys-
tcm-
2:s5 cluss at Cleveland that has nludc Il record OF
:,.:.s at Chicago the week previous; nor in the
I'll class at Buffalo after having made i record
RED outs i will tell you. The cutrics to the
Central Circuit close July Is, the day previous to
the opening Of the Chicago meeting. Let own
ers enter their horses in the classes where they
belong, with this understanding: That II any
horse Irots himself out Of his class he shull be
considered entered at the next place 10 the class
10 which he has made himself eligible by this
performance. No fuir-1ninded man can object
i, this, unless it be some one who has sure
winner in his class a 1hous1 o me q erco on
n1an against twenty The plnn have out
lined gives horsemen fair show
through the circuit at, if you choose, to call it,
the expense Of two or three persons. This plan
will result III better trot1tng, give all the horses
chance. and draw crowds to the races Some
lions ut the tail end Of loug circuit. For my
Self. will say that represent five horses. and
would certainly enter them ail clear through
the circuit upon the conditions ! have ulc1l-
doned much sooner than As matters now stAnd.
II am lucky enough to have Il horse in the
EGG class that can and does trot ut Cleveland in
:s:al, am quite willing to trot hitn at the next
place in the s@l class, while, On the other hand,
If some friend Of mine has Il horse in the 2:2sS
class against my horse, and his horse tEOts in
.a::ss am glad 10 have gotten rid Of him. there
by improving my chance to VIM am cont-
dent that the entries TO the Central Circuit
would be much larger were this plan adopted,
because in any class q man would know that be-
fore the circuit WAS over he would have some
chance to win
the National Association, on this subject would
he OF interest. 10th to horselnen and the public,
q TKIHUNE representative called on TINT gci-
1lcn,an at the Pacific Hotel, and stated his CT
::There is no use in law" snid Mr.. Vail,
''w1thuut reason for it. The reason for want
bring them together On us nearly equal terms us
possible We attempt that i'll distributing purses
under the time classification, but fail to accom-
p1ish thlt object when numerous engagements
ure suffered to be Made i'll advance If VIC were
tc produce the most distinct classification of
tt,lt sort it would be to demand that the horses
in every race be eligible when they come to the
post. Now, we know that in practice this is i'm
practicable. since the tracks want knowledge be-
the owners and drivers OF horses want TO know
exactly what is before them, and this fact pre-
scnts the question of how we Gun most nearly
attain that end ana subscrvc the various inter-
tasts that surround it. 1t has been claimed that
this could be accomplished by closing the entries
To ench meeting just prior thereto. but tho man
and with somc reason.
..rhe plan proposed by Mr.. Beuais is to move
each horse at each succeeding meeting in a cir
cult out Of the ciass III which be is entered and
into tho one to which he has made himself cIi-
Eible by his record. The idea Is valuable one,
bur would advise that the plan be so arranged
that horse Shall leave the class in which he is
entered except when he wins first money in thnt
class. That is, would not have horse who
but fails to win the race, he forced to compete
with horses OF the .:s4 class Buffalo the next
week. We know that frequently horses ca
pable Of trottng one fast heat, hut urc not able
To 30 a sufficient number Of miles Mt the same
ratc to win the race. Such horses should not bc
thrown our OF their class simply because they
have made one fust performance.
Another feature would suggest is to give
the Unrest purses to the fusttsst classcs and
would allow horse moved from, a slw to u fast
class 70 trot without paving amy more entrance
fre- With these two features added. tho plan
proposed ly Mr.. Benis is an admirable one for
the usc OF u circuit. 1t should not, however be
made Il law Of the National Association, as it is
opposed TO the rules regarding eligibility. Cir
cults arranged on this plan would increase the
race would be a real contest. and combinations
Of drivers for the purpose OF forwarding dis
honest schemes would be more easily orokcn up.
be constantly changing"
BLACKEUHS's RUNAWAY.