The Washington times., 1902-08-04
Wagers on Heats to Be
Prohibited at
Brighton.
THE GRAND CIRCUIT MEETING
Track Managers Now Recognize Evils
Incident to Old Style-Practice Paves
the Way fo1 Many Abuses and Works
Harm to the Sport.

NEW YORK, Aug. 3.--When the cam
paigners that have beer shattering the
records at Detroit, Cleveland. and Co
lumbus reach the Brighton Beach track
next week for the biggest meeting of the
series. devotcec OF trotting will see
novel system CT harness racing and
new plan of public betting tried for the
first time in the grand circuit. Brigh-
ton Beach has gone in for reform, and
besides offering larger purses than any
other track In the circuit of 1902, It's
managers are going to strive for short
er, sharper harness races. and for races
free from the blighting feature of bet
ting on heats.
Track managers of the trotting turf
have recognized the evils incident to
beat betting ever since the French mu-
;uel machines and the English book
making system were introduced mere to
tempt the public to speculate on the re-
suit of each heat of harness race. In
dependent Of lie final result That the
practice paves the way for many abuses
is admitted by every candid observer
who knows the way around q trotting
track
Betting Does Harm.
II believe heat betting has worked
more harm to the sport than all other
forms of speculation combined said
c. A McCully, the secretary of the
New York Trotting Association, the
other day mot only the public. but
the professional layers of odds and the
drivers themselves are in turn the vic
tins OF this pernicious system.
What would be said about running
race II the bookmakers were to post
odds against the horses for each quarter
or furlong OF the distance to be run.
or about prize fight or ball game in
which there was public betting on the
result of each round or each inning,
while the purse or prize to be won de-
pended solely on the final result? Does
ANYBODY suppose 1t would be possible to
prevent trickery? Yet these cases are
exactly analogous to heat betting in |
harness racing. One is as fair as an
other. and all are unsportsmanlike on
part OF the managers who permit such
things"
Alice Russell's Queer Races.
There are numerous ways in which
heat betting works harm to the sport by
plucking the public. The races trotted
by Alice Russell at Detroit and Cleve-
land this season Illustrate the most ccm
mon of these evils. They were three in
five contests. and her driver apparently
made no effort to win the early heats.
bringing his fast mare in at the tail
end of the big field time after time until
the contending horses were tired. AT
Cleveland the judges fined her driver
s2o0 for thus laying her up. but this did
not recompense or appease the people
who. without having inside information
the program, had accepted the
odds against Alice Russell
.or the first three or four heats.
1t was not charged that her driver
lropped these heats for the purpose of
ieecing the public. His object. probably {
vas to save his mare until her dangerous
-ivals had raced each other into the ,
ground and then go at them with a fresh
lorse. This was small consolation, how
'ver, TO heat bettors, who had seen their
money burned up without the semhlance
# a drive.
When a horse starts favorite in s
III tt III HNt IdCt Tue 10
trong for those controlling him to make
sure money by dropping heat or two
efore sending him to the front. There
re some old timers among turfmen who
lave come to think it is not only smart
ut proper to profit In this way when
hey can find a bookmaker who will di-
ide the spoils In consideration OF re-
ewing the Information that the favor :
te is not going to try for a certain heat c
Won by Losing.
Mr.. McCully says a prominent horse
wner, once boasted to him OF having :
ION $4,000 by letting his horse lose two
eats to a field that he could fairly
mother with speed. This mans trottcr
-as a top heavy favorite. and he kept
inning and losing alternate heats un;il
We were necessary to decide the onA
ded contest The play was then In the \
where II was the field against Z
he favorite. but even with this system