The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-15
RICHARD CROKER,
Practical Expulsion From Newmarket
 EnshrOuded In Mystery

hu [uySIefYs At the 13Sth annual dinner of the Gimcrack Club recently held at York Eng, J. c. Butcher. NJ. P. in toasting the tocky Club, remarked that fre doubt cd If the Emperor of all the Rus sias exercises a greater autocracy than the English Jockey Club.
 That body is the final court of ap- peals in all matters of racing, and, while it might occasionally make mis- takes. as did every court in England from a Police Court to the House of Lords. he was confident it exercised that Jurisdiction In a manner that com manded the respect of the racing com munity.
 That the English Jocky Club is ir- responsibly autocratic Americans who have raced horses in England have had occason to experience unpleasantly. When Mir. Corrigan withdrew his horse from the English turf he denied that he had retired from any intimation that his presence on the English turk was not desired. Yet the contrary story would not down and still is believed. When Trainer Wishari came back he as much as admitted that he came home because his presence on the Eng fish turf was not agreeable to the Eng fish authorities. There was something mysterious and not as yet satisfactorily explained about the retirement of their big racing establishments from Eng land by Messrs. Whitney and Keenc- neither of whom could be supposed as acting in co1cert with the other.
 Richard Croker, understood to be one of the most unassuming of the American invading forces, remained, and it looked as if he intended to pass the rest of his days on British soil, us- Ing the turf as mild means of diver sion Never an intimation of a sus- picion that his presence as a turfman was not acceptable to the Britons. Never a breath of suspicion as to the thorough honor of his turf meth ods.
 Not long since there was an intima- ton given that in the future MT. Crok- CT would confine his racing ventures to Ireland, and that he had made some Investments on the other side of the Channel. including additions to his rac- ing string looking toward that end. This caused no suspicion that he was not persona grata to the English turf authorities, at the head of whom now stands the Earl of Durham, whose anti American predIlections were first disclosed in his attitude toward Jockey Sloan.
 The official notification last week. as announced by the press dispatches, that the English Jockey Club has interdicL l. ed MT. Croker from training horses on Newmarket Heath comes. then, like a bolt from the blue. Were the barring of his three yearlings all there was to 1t the interdiction naturally would be ascribed to some want of technical con- formity to Jockey Club rules, such as an informality of registration or a mat ter such might be subsequently, cured. as is the case with our own Jockey Club.
 But the fact that no exception in the interdiction is made, and no reason given at all, makes American turfmen believe the barring of Richard Croker is the last step fin a well-designed plan to drive American turfmen completely and forever from English turf terri tory.
 Of course. everybody will hope thac there may be satisfactory explanation of the action of the English Jockey Club. Should the worst prove to be true and should MT. Croker practically have been warned of" without reason and without explanation. the effect of such Rutocratic action will most assur- edly be had on the public standing of the New York Jockey Club. which has been SO thoroughly Anglomaniac in It's local methods.