Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-17
Trotting in England EIcites the Risi-
bilities of Americans Rather
Than Admiration.
MEETING AT ALEXANDRA PALACE.
Peculiar Racing Rules and Poor Methods Of
Introduction Will Probably Keep
the Sport Down.
Trouble AMONG TIE BALL CLUBS
Latest eosEp From the s,ulIen. the sprinter and
the Boxing Champlonh
rooRn1sroSDEscr OF rHn D1srArcH.,

rcoRR1sroNDENcE OF THE DIsPArcH.l
LONDON, August S.-Doubtless anything
said about trotting in Eng land win interest
very large number of American sporting
people Witnessed the meeting of July 2S,
and to speak frankly on the subject 1 don 4
desire to witness another Of the kind. If
the Britisbers have buster and wealthier
turf than the Americans it may safely be
said that the former will never see the day
when they will have anything at all to COM
pare with us in the way of trotting races.
venture q further prediction. feel quite
safe in saying that this generation of citi-
Eens will not see trotting in any way ranked
a. popular sport in England. There are
many good reasons for this conclusion, and
intend to note some Of them.
The trotting meeting attended was at
Alexandra Palace, palace by the way that
was built to rival Crystal Palace, but VIII ich
so far has been an absolute failure. The
Alexandra Palace is in the north of London,
and is very handsome place. Some big
events have failed to popularize it, and its
case must be an out and out hopeless one if
dependence is placed on trotting races doing
it any good. I never saw q worse meeting,
nor a more motley crowd. The ordinary
butchers matinee" at Pittsburg towers as
far above what saw at Alexandra Palace
as the sun does above 9 tallow candle. Of
course am aware that trotting in England
is just in its infancy, that it is only in its
Introductory and experimental stage This
is quite true, but it is also true that the
Britishers just think themselves on level,
at least, with everybody and everything.
I conversed with some people who really
labored under the impression that there
was really little or no difference be-
tween trotting races in England and those in
the United States, and that if there was any
difference in favor of the Yankees" it
would soon disappear. In giving brief
statement regarding the somewhat fruitless
efforts to establish trotting il England and
Scotland wish it to be borne in mind that
while there is not much probability Of the
particular style of racing in question becom-
ing popular among the English people there
is very strong desire among a certain class
of well-to-do people to purchase good Amer
lean trotting horses. This latter fact, how
ever, must not be taken to mean that all who
want to buy good trotting horses desire to
hgure with them in race meetingA
. u
At Alexandra Park.
One great drawback to the Alexandra
Park meeting was the location of the track.
1t being somewhat out of the way; but, how
ever strongly that condition may have oper-
ated against good attendance, the price of
admission and other charges were much
greater impediments. The price of general
admission was ~ shillings, or so cents. To
get into an Enclosure or upon q stand go
cents more were charged, and refreshments
were double the ordinary figure. The price
of admission might not seem exorbitant to
Americans, but it is an extremely high fig
ure in England, as the very best
racing in the country can be seen
for half that amount. It was indeed, q
puzzle to me to know what reason there was
for such an apparently foolish condition.
Certainly the high price would keep a very
large number of people away, and as a re- |
suit the crowd was q very poor one. 1t was |
limited to few hundreds OF people and they |
did little or no business when they did get |
in. The racing was not worth two and a |
half pence and surely 1 know of no track |
directors in Pennsylvania who could muster
courage sufficient to charge even cents for
such display.
The card announced nine races for the one
afternoon. That number would doubtless
Etartle the ordinary American patron of the
sport as 1t is often difficult in the United
States to get through three races on one dav.
But the card was misleading as the cheats"
were announced as races. Still am think
ing that my readers will need more definite
information on the matter Well here are
the general conditions of racing:
Each race is on handicap prin-
ciples and the horses are handicapped
according to height This permits ponies to
enter along with the horses. All the korses
and ponies entered for any particular race
are drawn in heats and the first and second
or each heat, providing the second is not dis
tanced, starts in the final heat, and the
winner of the final wins the race. This ar
rangement enables the Secretary to tell how
many heats there will be, and hence the an
nouncement of them on the bills as Traces"
But there was another singular and unfair
condition, viz: horses driven to saddle and
Others to harness, all competing in one race.
For instance, the first race was selfhandi-
Gaping race for horses and ponies of any
breed. The first heat was for the Saddle
class, which was won by q horse named
Page Boy, who had rs yards start. The next
heat was the harness class" and horse
named Reform won, with q little grey pony
named Midge second. Reform had 130
yards, and Midge had 33S yards start Now,
in the final, Saddle class" and "harness
class" winners started against each other.
Strange to say, the little pony won
in 248, that is, she covered
the distance, which was s3s yards short of
mile in that distance. One or two Ameri-
can bred horses competed, but they were OF
very poor quality. The track was a bad
one to trot on, as it was up and down hill.
1t was also very narrow, but that did not
matter much, as the horses were never more
than two abreast standing starts" were
made, except in one case. As a rule, the
horses, when in q race, were q quarter of
mile from each other, and in the miIe-and-a-
half heats a win of about 200 yards was
mare named Blanche win q hest in a way
that would have been interesting to the AL
legheny butchers. The mare was, without
hde drag horse than race horse, and, to
speak frankly, when / saw the mare enter
the track / hadn't the slightest idea that she
was q competitor. She "hoisted" herself
away, however, having 81 seconds start and
elumaily clanked her way home o winner Of
q heat 1t was very, very funny to see.
English TrotIinE Prospects.
From what / have above stated, my
readers will not be surprised when say
that I have little more faith in trotting be-
coming popular In England than have in
baseball becoming the leading game among
the English. To begin with, there is con-
.erystism or love for the 'good old ways"
among the English people that will ever 60
hard against the success Of any American