The sun., 1897-12-06
WITH TRoTTER AND PAGER.
Beard or Review VIII Meet Te-Norrow-win
the Driving Club Disbandi

the Driving Club Disbnndi
President p. p. Johnston and the Chnirmen
OF tho District Boards of Appeal OF the National
Trotting Association are due to arrive at the
Murray Hill Hotel tomorrow for tho semi
annual meeting Of the Board of Review Cases
OF alleged ringing will. as usual, furnish tho
bulk of the work for the turf tribunal. and as
secretary Gocher has rounded up an uncom-
monty large number Of suspects during tho
campaign just ended tho docket is said to bo
heavier than ever.
Although tho m membership OF tho National As
sociation is smaller than that OF the American
Association. ringing cases are far moro com.
mon in Its territory, the drift Of the outlaw cam
paigners being mainly from West to East Both
organizations spend large amount OF money
annually In attempting to head of and hunt
down the masqueradcrs, yet 1t is generally ad-
mitted that not one In ten can ever be brought
to book by means Of the existing machinery Of
the trotting turf. In several States the Lcgis.
lstures have passed laws making 1t pcniten.
tiary offence to start horse out Of its class or
under an assumed name, but SO far as known no.
body except Bob Kneebs over served term for
ringing trotters.
Recently there has been talk among turfmen
about adopting the preventive measures in
vogue on the running turf, and IL is said the bi-
ennial congress Of the National Trotting Asso.
citation. which meets next February, may bo
asked to enact n rule requiring the description
and history OF all horses to be recorded In tho
Secretary office, at Hartford. before they start
in any public race over National track.
About the only safeguard against ring
ing now on tho books is the rule pro-
viding that the winnings of horse may be
temporarily withheld at any meeting where
the horse is protested for Identification, or
where evidence 10 produced tending to show
that 1t is ineligible to start. The penalty for
entering protest which turns out to be with
out cause is Just as severe the penalty for
ringing, so that owners are slow to take the
suspected horse is sailing under false coors
Anovel case which will come before the Board
trainer. Fred Noble. and an nstallment purse
race. in which he started Chester. 2:12i4, at the
September. According to Mobiles version OF the
affair only Chester and Nalence made the final
chester wss so SO sore s.ars and lor o %
condition at the time that he could not trot mile
better than about 2:2O, but his trainer says he
started him expecting to win second money if he
could keep from being distanced by Valence. The
mare. however. shut him. out in 2:20A in the
first heat. Thinking Noble had not driven to
win, tho judges waived distance and put up a
new driver. Tho landed inside the flag with
ms Sehn hi ns1t ns heats Ncts Sss
when he called for his winnings the officials re-
fused to pay over second money. intimating that
he had no right to start Chester in the condition
in which he was, and that he did SO only to keep
the largest part OF the 81 800 purse from revert
ing to tho association, II would have
done under the rules in the event of walkover
for Valence. Noble admits that he started
Chester without any expectation of winning,
but claims that. having paid all his instaliments
to save 1t n he could. He deni that he had an
agreement with the driver or owner of Valenco
whereby they were to divide the money won.
Another important case on tho docket Is that
OF Col. r 6. Stoner, the well-known Kentucky
breeder, who was expelled at the Columbus
Grand Circuit meeting Lost summer for defying
the authority of the Judges. His horse, Oak
land Baron finished first in three heats of his
race but tho Judges declared the third heat
void, believing that Ruby was being pulled to
let Oakland Baron win. Col. Stoner refused to
go on with the race, and kept his horse in the
stable when ordered to bring him out for an
other heat. For this the Judges expelled the
Kentucky turfman. but Major Johnston, the
TO fine of $500. pending the action of the Board
of Review in the matter.
The annual business meeting of the Driving
Club of New York, which will take place on
next Thursday. Is looked forward to with curl.
osity and interest. Having lost control of Fleet
wood Park. the club Is now wi hout homo. and
the question uppcrmost in the minds Of Its mem.
bers is whether to wind up tho affairs Of the old
organization and disband. or continue to exist
and seek q new track for next year. Factional
strife and mismanagement have greatly lowered
the prestige and popularity of tho club during
the last five years, and n decision to disband
would not cause many OF Its old members to
wear crapo.