New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-19

u.,,ses a keen mercantile commercial eiement
s.,re in. Racing at Jerome Park was carried
~ "a a snort pure and simple. At all the
thor tracks which have been opened since
soc;no il handled like the business OF pork
,ocking with a single eye to the profits 1t
p,,kes no difference whether the money is used
90 swell a surplus and to pile up big dvi-
donds. az at COney Island, or to expand the
stakes and purses to extravagant proportions,
.s at Monmouth Park. For at Monmouth the
owners of the property are racing for the big
nrizcs with their own horses Through all OF
the tracks runs the same restless, grasplng
spirit OF gam.
In order to heap mp enormous DIVIDENDS or
70 enlarge the prizes to an excessive extent
needful safeguards and restraints have been
broken down. No attempt is made to confine
the contests to owners of decent repute. The
lowest blackleg. whose reputation all over the
land reeks with slime, is welcomed to the
course. If by an unbroken career of flching
from his felow-men he has gathered money
enough to buy a racehorse. He and his horses
are subject to the loose, Widowed and ragged
rules of racing, through Which in this day and
i'm this country any one can drive coach ana
four but he is subject to little else. 1t matters
not what stamp the courts may have set on his
evil face, what brand has been burned there
by the contempt and scorn OF honest people, he
is on equal terms with the most honored and
honorable owner of them all, so long as the
Indifferent officials wilfuily shut their eyes to
his dishonest practices. In this state of affairs
no one can fairly wonder that the proportion OF
clean-h handed and respected owners on the turf
yearly becomes smaller while the great wave
of the riff raft and refuse of humanity steadily
mounts higher. In England the lists OF entries
to the great stakes contain scores and even
hundreds of stainless names, the names OF men
of substance and influence. who race for sport
and not for greed. How few such there are in
the American lists. In England the records
of racing stables are often associated with the
records of famous families. How few such
there are on this side of the Atlantic In Eng
land the heir to a great estate naturally turns
to racing when he comes of age. In America
how rarely. On the other side OF the ocean
the paddocks are the resorts OF ladies and
gentlemen. Here they are generally crowded
with ruffans and blackguards. Our rich men
know that il they go on the turf they will be
brought into revolving contact with a nOisOme
class. the pirates and bandits of the track. In
England they separate the sheep from the
goats, at least to a certain extent. Here they
don't.
Our jockey clubs gre 50 anxious to raise i'm
mense revenues from the betting ring that they
allow the bookmakers to race horses and to
have their own way. In England the pro-
fessional gamblers do not overrm everything
as here. So fierce is the pursuit of profit by
our racing associations that they encourage and
stimulate gambling to such an extent that all
thought of :" the improvement of the breed of
horses is lost, and racing sinks to the level of
the lottery with its schemes for getting the
most out of the public with the least return.
Hence it is not surprising that Fashion turns
with sniff of disdain from the racecourse
and hocks to the Horse Show And this, even
if the Futurity will soon be worth 100000