New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-08-07
RACING GOING DOWNWARD.
CAUSES WHICH HAVE LED TO ITS RAPID
DECLINE.
THE SHARP CONTRAST BETWEEN TIE IN
FIUENcEs WHICH WERE DOMINANT ON TIE
TURF IN THE PAST AND THOSE
WHICH rifle NOW


Sixteen more DAYS of Monmouth. and the meet
ing that has done more TO injure racing than all
the winter meetings Of Guttenburg and Gloucester
combined will come 10 close. The meeting up 10
the present time has been a failure In every re-
spect 1t Is not the financial loss OF the stocKhoo-
ers aoI,e which makes the Ileeting FAILURE pd'
the losslo of confidence in the honesty OF racing by
the public who pay for admission at the gate ana
bet small amounts on outsiders in the betting
ring enabling the bookmakers to round UP 'heH
hooks 10 the amounts bet by the plungers on Ia
vorites The general public did not expect 10 see
hgh-class racing at the minor tracks ana careu
little about them The patrons OF such tracks as
brighton Beach. Gutenberg and Gloucester were
of a class that wanted racing, no matter what sort
of horses contended for the purses.
The patrons of the Board of Control tracks ex-
pected racing with every safeguard around IL 10
prevent crookedness. They also expected that 'he
horses engaged in the contests would be trained up
to their form whenever they started in race. IL
there was the slightest grounds for suspicion that
a horse was not meant or was wholly unht they
expected a rigid investigation, no matter by WHOM
the suspected animal was owned. They expec'eu
that the racing officials would protect them iroii
Jockeys who in after race were beaten on
horses that had given the public every reason 10
believe that their chances of winning were greater
than those Of any OF the horses WHICH race"
against them The public expected that owners ana
trainers who were too intimately associated WIN
by the racing officials. The public expected that
the reports of the races and the criticisms OF turf
writer's would lead the officials in many instances
to investigate racing that was suspicious iaheh
altogether it was a of great expectations
that were never realized a.,
The beginning of the downfall of racing III inc
East began when the American Jockey Ciuo was
forced TO go to the wall by the New-fork Jockey
Club a proprietary club owned and controheu u!
j. A. and A. II. Morris. The methods cmpo'eu ~
crush the life out of opposition by the "e'sit VI
the great wealth of the owners OF MOTIFS raIh
embodened INSCRIPTIONS owners 10 race '"e'
horses as they saw nt. In-and-out running became
Tho ruI. not the exception. As the track owners
also owned large stables they raced their horses
every day. without regard to their condition. 10 HI
I'D their races and attract the crowds TO ueH
meetings If a horse which carried lot OF money
for the public was defeated by some rank outsider
his owner would say that his race was not such
a startling reversal of form, as Mr.. SO and Sos
horse showed. and he runs the racetrack Strange |
as 1t may seem, the tracks which are tabooed by
the better class of racegoers, such as the Brighton
Beach and Gutenberg tracks, made hard hght
for existence, and raced in opposition to the club
that threatened to destroy them. The fact that
there was opposition to them caused them to make
at least a show of having honest racing.
The Board of Control was formed to place racing |
on highly moral plane. ID. ID. Withers was
elected president.
For a time it looked il some real reforms |
on the turf would take place and crookedness
be eliminated from the the big tracks |
The trouble at Elizabeth between NJ. r. Dwyer |
and the city poolrooms developed a reformer in |
n keeper of New-York poolrooms, who made war
ON the Elizabeth track and closed its gates Mon |
mouth Park. Linden and Clifton were also closed. |
Racing in the winter thrived Gutenberg and |
Gloucester so that the owners made so much !
money that they able TO make strong |
fight, II necessary against all corners. ID. ID. |
Withers died in the winter OF 1892. When ne |
passed away the bulwark of honest racing was |
thrown down. The methods of this gentleman |
were abandoned and racing was turned over to !
men whose only ambition in life was. to trade |
on the cupidity of their fellow -men and relieve !
them of their money by various methods and |
devices.
What can be expected when racing is
In such hands? Is 1t strange that the
attendance has dwindled until crowd Of
1900 persons is looked upon multi
tude? The great expectations Of the public that
racing would be placed on higher plane are
wholly destroyed when bookmaker who is con-
sidered one of the shrewdest men on the turf is
to call the attention Of The cot officials OF
of his horses. What chance has the average race !
goer who make no appeal? If turf writer
made such a charge in his report of the races he
would be ruled of without an investigation of tn
charges
When the management saw fit to expel turf
writers the publie were deprive, OF their only
method OF protection They reDelled against Such |
high-handed proceedings. and q, by their absence
from the track plainly showed their disapproval |
of the action Of the Executive Committee when |
they ruled off the representatives of the press.
The lost confidence Of the public is hard TO re-
gain. p j. Dwyer. who knows what the public /
desire in racing, declined to have anything to do /
with the active rnanagement at Monmouth Park
The management at present is unknown, as each /
person supposed to be member appeared TO /
be ashamed to acknowledge that he had anything /
TO do with it when asked by Tribune reporter /
At the track on Friday How It win end is a cues
terests of the turf at heart. Breeders from every
part of the country, the of the leading !
stables who do not know racetracks, are alarmed /
at the outlook.