The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-09
SHORTER HARNESS RACES.
HORsBMEN FAVOR THE TWO-IY-
THREE. NEAT SYSTEM

AAAS = 49, ~ ~ ANNNEh' - @SN ~ =
New rrottinR Track-TRkinG the 2iIO
List ms n Criterion the Races Arc Too
LonG-Dashes n Failure In California.
W. II. Clark's announcement that nearly all.
n not all, harness races Mt New York's new
trottlng track will be at one mile and repeat
has caused not a little rejoicing among the fol-
lowers Of the sport hereabouts. Progressive
horsemen generally reached tho conclusion
long ago that the best interests OF spectators.
owners, and horses required some modification
OF the old three-in-lvo style. which has stood
unchanged ever since the sport originated, but
they were never agreed. and are not now. "a
to what should DO substituted In its place.
Some Of the objections to tho present system
were thus voiced by q well-known horseman the
other day.
"Three-in-il five was all right in carly days
when there we're only a handful Of ~trotters In
the country, and few of them able TO go faster
than about 2:30. They had to string things
out then to make up for the scarcity Of horses.
But look at the situation now. There are more
horses than can find q fair chance to race, and
they are going in 2:15 and 2:10 where they
went In 2:3O and 2:25 not many years ago.
Still the track managers stick TO the three-in-
Ave system, which keeps one set of horses be-
fore the spectators pretty much all the after
noon. and sometimes lonGer. A good many of
Jub dCtb uI0 All over Dub bInc Snuutlng dlboi NV
first heat. one horse outclassinR the field. The
finish becomes tiresome In such cases. A good
many other races are drawn out through six.
eight and even twelve heats. first one horse and
then another getting to the front. That sort Of
in-and-out trotting bores the public. too. And
1t kills off q lot OF good horses.
The best ~trotters are wofully short-lived on
the turf at the three-in-nve game. And the
better they are the quicker they 60 to the wall.
for It's the pace that kills. Look at the Stats
tics Of the case. There we're ffty-three trot-
tiers in the 2:10 list at tho opening OF tho cam
paign Of 1897. How many OF them do you sup
pose trained on and lowered their records that
year, Just one. Out OF twenty ~trotters that
gained records of 2:10 or betterin 1897. nine
teen were newcomers in the list. Dan Cupid.
previously In the list. lowered his record a
1uarter Of q second. cutting 1t from 2:09k to
2:0ok. but he was all alone. Now. how many
OF the horses that trotted into the 2:10 list in
1897 trained on to faster records In 1882 You
would think four or i've out OF nineteen ought
to stand up and improve. wouldn't your Well,
not a single one did so. Twenty more ~trotters
made records Of 2:10 or better. but every one
Of them was a newcomer in the list. Out Of
the entire seventy-three horses previously In
the list, not one improved his old record.
Nearly one-half OF all the high-class trotters
trhlneu every year go wrong oelore liie uihhu
Circuit opens. and three-quarters of them have
tho Cleveland meeting, The three.in-lve isa
hopse;killins system Of racing. It opens the he
laying ESIr gu IN Sf heats 8!a and ESm Tor q the new @ game game Of drop.
ping heats to fleece the betting public"
Many plans for shortening races have been
the horses. adding dash and spirit to the sport.
and heading Of the practice, Of laying up heats;
deciding each race in a single heat. The plan
was tried extensively In California last year.
m mem S' t are q Il Hss fIa srHsf to aHt the a. SKIES ihs S at the
beginning Of the long meeting at Oakland; but
Its best rdmnlste had io,j to confess nj I The that and It
SSr""sokedd, %qrE' became prevalent, and
the public lost conadeHees in the sport
were made free only a. corporal,s guard at
tended on the closing days Of the meeting.
1852. but the first race. deyelopsda Siobs Which
caused the judges to declare the race void and
order the horses TO start again. making yirtu-
then no dash races except those for yearlings
have been tried at LefinEt9n; On the few
tried it has been abandoned;
The main trouble With dash races ior harness
d aetssf for q IA q ' horse sss' ! The a b esff horse 9s1S ~iil 'B bFeaF
occasionally. SO that chance becomes too much
OF q factor in determining the result. Then.
easier to escape detection when a single dash
ends the race: A Pr9ninent horseman who
"""The system viii never see daylight again
out there. II won't DC. anywhere, because it
becomes limos LIN imhp0ss'6ie lor ne ~ .a best Judges
Heat dashes have gained some popularity on a
few Western tracks. Under this system the
being hung up for each neat, and divided in the
usual, way among the first four horses: The
race does not always vs. determine Witch is the
best horse. Three different horses may win the
three heats and the contest ends there. with
"a ~ 4 Z q M ~ thn tnn OF tha
race. The same objection Is urged against the
plan for shortening races which has been sug-
ffe wonid like to see every race limited to a Ger.
tain number of heats, say three. and award first
money to the h horse ,S.s that ts gained The D best w ayerdi
make 1t possible for a horse to- get first money
without winning any OF the heats. similar
JIG. Sibley Of Pennsylvania. but it
never found favor among horsemen generally;
on many ma traoks IN the West and south Sou R's and has
resulted In some Of the most spirited and salts
1I4 rdf I harness raSiRg ever pn seen stI N rais III:
among the towns whore the system has been
tried with snSS9ss; aP I'd, may NY h Sass S1, here .n1n
THE two.Ln:thTSe system" said Ed Upton
f IL a GtPf the sf hSr.e wa, please So. al sse s Sew as a0 tkey PG got
used to II. A race OF two heats will never be
tedious, and i the heats are sPlit up it cant be
all horses that fail to win a heat, in the first
three, will g to the barn under the rules. 1t
will do away with laying up heats. save the
horses. AMI make the betting lively. ] think
pretty well of the dash system. but there Is this
horse makes q bad break or gets cut of, or in
with in any way In one heat he has
chance. Some people say 1t will have
q tendency 10 lower the standard OF stamina in
he ~frottinG horse, But I don't take any stock
IN that argument. A horse that can go out and
beat his field in one heat and then turn round
and do it again Ia a good enough slayer for me-"
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