New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-11-09
THE AMLHIE1N TIVE

The American Tacing season i now over
though the unfortunate beasts 1T brighton
Beach still 20 their daily rounds. But they are
merely performing for the benefit OF the men
who manipulate the illegal pools at that sink OF
the scum of New-Iork and Brooklyn barrOoms,
and the painful hobbhng of lop- sided crpplcs
around "a track which ia managed with the
objects and methods of BOwcry iaro-bank has
no more 10 do with the turf proper than the
summing of a roulette ball has with the
revolution of the spheres. The season has
lasted longer. included more races distributed
larger sums and Interested more people than
any of its predecessors. But it has been in
many ways extremely unsatisfactory.
Far too many races have been run for the
number of thoroughbrcd4 in training. From
April to November there has been racing for at
least three days of every week From the
opcning in the Southwest to the close at
Jerome Park no brcathing-space has been
Given. Never were 50 many horses overworked,
broken down or made worthless in Il single
wear. while week after week and month after
month a few scores OF runners have been
meeting again and again in handicap after
handicap until tho public might well grow
weary of their very names Ten times ~ many
thoroughbrcds a have been IN training in 1850
would be needed properly to supply such
inccssant demands at 80 many different points.
II is unwise and injurious to try TO give rs much
racing in this country rs IN England, where
the number OF thorouGhbIcds enormously
exceeds that in America. Can there be Il more
pitiabe or contemplate traycsty of sport than
TO see the same set of horses pitted against
each other in handicaps from the time of March
blasts to that of winter frOsts, while the over
taxed handicappcrs with soitcning brains and
lack -lustre eyes are toilng to make the chances
equal, now putting on pound here, taking oil
pound there going over the same weary
round with maddcnlDg mOnOtOny, the weights
on the same horses scc-sawing up aud down
until the turlman gets dizzy and finally falls
into II stupor
only the bookmallcrs profit by the excessive
repetition of race meetings, and the public
suffers But the bookmakers are not satisfied
with their legitimate chances of profit large a.
these are Many OF them attempt by bribery to
get information from trainers and jockeys to
which they have no right, and 20 prevent the
best horses from winning races. Many of them
own large stables. Some run their horses
honestly others do not The power of the
bookmalcrs on the American turf threatens it's
ruin. Kept within proper bounds they might
do no serious harm, but our jockey clubs
derive SO large Il part of their revenue from
them under the present perncious system that
on most of our courses it is the interests of
these professional gamblers that are first
cared for and not the interests of the owners of
stables nor those of the public. This evil has
assumed alarming proportions. When
shameless and conspicuous frauds were
pIactised in sO-cacd races on some of the
best known Eastern courses the swindlcrs were
allowed TO pocket their gains lest the
bookmakers should be offended They order
these things better in Kentucky. There the
public is properly protected, and bets are
declared OH in cases of obvious fraud But
Eastern Judges and committees seem to be too
timid to take any such manly and honorable
course, and the consequence has been that in
most of the selling races and steeplechascs aud
in many of the purse races on Eastern tracks
some dishonesty has been the rule rather than
the exception.
The law against poo-sellng has been treated
with contempt at Shcepshead Bay and Brighton
Beach all the year. At jerome Park the
bookmalkers are protected by cour; ruling
but there is no excuse for the daily defiance of
the law at Coney Island. If the members of
the Legislature believe that the law as it now