Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-03
Bookmaking and Winter Tracks Have
Done the Work.
Originally the Sport of Kings, 1t Has
Come to Be q Tool for
Betting.

| anu h3S pcSoiie SUCH u passion AIMING inc
Anglo-Saxons of America that the thorough
bred. the most perfect specimen of the
equine race, is nothing more nor less than
a gigantic gambling machine. His plebeian
brother, the American trotter, it is to be
regretted. is fast following in his footsteps.
| Gamblers excluded, every man who be-
| lieves in improving the blood-hor regrets
/ that betting has become necessary to the
success OF race meetings. Could gambling
be eliminated from racing the undesirable
| elements would not dominate the race course
as they now do, and the track would be
sought more frequently by our wives and
daughters. So interviewer, however, is bet
| ting with racing that there is little doubt
| If the law against it Is rigidly enforced,
nearly. If not quite. every race course in the
United States will for long time be smut
up, and as a necessary consequence a severe
| blow delivered to the breeding interests of
the country. as far as it relates to the blood
horse. But while this is true, and while also
| the loss to breeders all over the country
would be greater than 1t now is, for there
| Is already great depression in the horse
breeding industry, owing to over-production,
when the great question of public morals is
| at stake the interrogatory as to which shall
be sacrinced is easily answered by every
| citizen who has at heart the welfare OF
society.
| A History of BoOkmaking.
At this juncture. when our local courts
are about to be engaged with the trial of an
alleged violation OF the law against betting
| on one of the tracks of the District, a
brief history of bookmaking and its off,
spring, winter racing, may prove instruc-
| tive. as well as interesting. Each had its
| inception in what is known as dash racing.
| A dash race. except between half-breds on
! country roads in the vicinity of a tavern,
| or at country fairs, was not tolerated by
| gentlemen who raced thoroughbreds pre-
| vious to 1861. Races prior to this period
were usually run in two, three and four
| mile heats, endurance being considered a
greater desideratum than speed. In 1864 dash
| racing was maugurated at Saratoga as an
| experiment, and in imitation of like sport
| that had gradually been growing in public
| favor in England. John Morrissey was one
| Of the moving spirits in the venture, and
| society at the springs, then as now, was
quick to patronize everything labeled Eng
| lish. The system proved a howhng success
the shrewd turfman, Leonard Jerome back
ed by August Belmont William Astor and
others. founded Jerome Park. Mr. Bel
monts idea in adopting it,however. was not
TO make money, but to afford sport in which
gentlemen could indulge
| Whie Jerome Park was q silk stocking
organization, and heavily patronized by
the wealthy class, Morrissey, at Saratoga,
dollars. He was shrewd enough to see that
the public preferred to witness five short
races in an afternoon, instead of two long
ores. Contests between two-year-olds were
also encouraged. and poolse,ling was es-
tablished from the beginning. While Nor
rissey adhered to the system of French
pools. Jerome and his associates transplant
| ed the English system of bookmaking to
American soil, where like the English spar
| row, 1t has conquered habitation and a
name, and has more than held its own. al
| though less fair and honest to the bettor
than the French mutual plan. ,-
| At Monmouth Park.
Stimulated by Morrissey's success at Sar-
atoga John Chamberlain and other sporting
men Of New York established a track at
Long Branch. known as Monmouth Park
This was in 1870. Bookmaking was an
essential feature of money making, and the
Monmouth Park Association was the first
in the racing annals of the United States
to openly proclaim that II was not doing
business solely for it's health, but for the
money that was in ii. Then followed in
succession the brood known as the Brigh-
ton Beach and Sheepshead Bay associa-
tons.
In the meantime the passion of gambling
had been stimulated to a white heat
among the middle and lower classes until
there had been created constituency Of
far into the thousands in New York and
within radius of sixty miles of the several
race tracks The passion of gambling be-
came a craving one. 1t did not take the
associations named long to see that patron
| age for continuous racing could be had
| Then 1t was that winter racing was added
to the program at the tracks controlled
| by the several associations, the revenue
being mainly derived from the percentage
paid by bookmakers to do business, who
could afford to pay large sums, when they
got 30 per cent on the average, while the
| bettors only got one. AS the citizens in the
| vicinity of the above tracks rose in their
wrath and drove out winter racing the fer
tile minds of the race track men founded
the Gutenberg track, vulgarly known as
the Gut" Routed from the last named
| resort, a brief engagement was recently
played at Benning. and a briefer one still
| at Ivy City. AS fast as the octopus has
| lost one tentace it has thrust out another
Whether its hold on Ivy City is permanent
or not the courts will soon decide.
Profits of the Business.
As an exemplification of the profits of
bookmakng and as an illustration of how
necessary it is to the success of modern
race meetings 1t was stated, by a member
of local racing association in the presence
of the writer during a recent meeting, that
I If the gates of the track were thrown wide
open to the public the club. he believed
! would make more money than it was then
making by charging an entrance fee. What
he meant was that more people would at
| tend. more books would go on and betting
would be stimulated thereby. Bookmaking
has not only revolutionized racing in the
United States in the manner already stated
but in addition thereto ii is largely respon-
sible for the low state of morals that exists
| upon the turf, and thereby has brought
| racing into disrepute. 1t is responsible also
for the revolution that has gradually gone
on in the ownership of horses that are
| raced. Gentlemen of high character still
own and race horses, and all who are in
terested in the sport know who they are
and it is equally well known that they are
sadly in the minority. 1t was to the inter-
est Of bookmaking that the ownership in
race horses should be diffused, hence by the
| aid Of bookmakers shrewd fellows who
| were mere 'rubbers'' of the thoroughbred
and the trotter as WELL a few years since
now either own control horses With
such influences insidiously at work IL does
not require diagram to explain why rae
ing, founded for a noble purpose and for the
development of a noble animal, has fallen
into such disrepute.
CONTEST OVER LOTTERIES.