Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-21
By Clarence L. Cullen.

tracks. 5000 or $1,000 OF EN- every day.
who were SO keenly interested in the i'm
provement in the breed Of thorough
breds'?
BY actual count there were LOO people
at the Gravesend track the other after
noon and 1000 Of these were either book
makers. bookmakers' cashiers and sheet
writer's and runners and hansers-on
OF the tracks furtivelN lowering around
expectant OF possible crumbs. The
average daily crowd at Gravesend
during the spring meeting is in the
neighborhood Of 1900 and on the
big days Gravesend used to have 5000
within its gates. That. however. was
when the racing gang-ye-eh-was so
enormously interested in the improve
rnent in the breed of thoroughbreds.
You remember that cant phrase. uon
you? The Improvement, etc. lhat
the stuff the pompous ones or the turI
world pulled on anybody and everybody
who dared to suggest that the one ano
only interest which ninety-nine hun
dredths Of the people who went 10 race
tracks had in the sport was the gamDHiis
end of the game; the chance to back
their opinion" as 1t is rather stiltedly
called. All you had to do to get this
kind of a rise out of the fellows who drew
down big money out of their race track
holdings was to express the pehe1 ina.
the betting end of IL was the big enc OF
il. and instantly they'd uncoil that pifning
but high sounding phrase about all hands
who attend the tracks being keenly con-
cerned as TO the Improvement In the'
etc OF course, nobody with enough sense
to last him till Tuesday week paid any at
tention 10 this rave. But the turf defend
ers unreeled it all the SAM. because 1t
was about the only notwithstanding
thing that they had in stock. and. OF
course. they had to say something.
Again. what has become os the crowds
the tracks solely for the purpose of get
ting a fine afternoons airing" watch
ing the sunlight play on the grass. en-
joying the sight of the happy track
throngs.' and all like that?
We used TO get all that fine south
breeze. too when we had the temerity to
venture the opinion that the bunch just
went to the tracks to bet The turf de-
tenders would always nudge right out 10
the firing line and maintain that IL
wasn't no SIGH thing that the gang went
to the tracks to bet but merely to get
the air and the sunlight" and so on:
Well, the boys are getting their air and
sunlight and things elsewhere now, IL ap,
pears. They renamed the Gravesend
track the Graveyard track couple of
days after the Hughes anti-gambling law
went into effect. The people who 1es
loved their Outings down at the tracks
outed elsewither after that edict, that's
the certainest thing you know.
So all of the sophistry Of the race track
folks-the projectors and exploiters of the
game, that is to say-has fallen nat and
dead. The folks won't go to race tracks
If they can't bet. That's as plain as
new red gate: and, as matter OF fact. II
has been perfectly we'll known to all
hands who knew anything whatever
about the turf for many years. For eX-
ample. on the day before Carter Harri-
son put the hand Of the law down on the
Chicago racing thing. Washington Park
out there had a grandstand audience OF
more than 10000 folks. On the following
day, when it was expected that the anti
betting scheme would go into operation,
about ]. 800 mooched out to Washington
Park to see what would happen. 1t hap
pened all right and on the following day
there were 300 gloomy ones at Washing
ton Park. Then they closed the gates:
The same thing had previously happened
at other tracks after the end-of-the-bet-
ting order had been given. That's why
1t seemed so funny. funny, funny TO
hear the explosive turf authorities exud-
ing this dismal patter about the gangs
visiting the New York tracks solely be-
cause they We're interested in the i'm
provement,'' because they liked the out
ing" and all like that.
Some of these same curiously Opaque
visioned turf hackers gave II out. when
the announcement was made that the
betting game was all up. that the crowds
would surely continue to flock to the
tracks in great numbers IL the entrance
price was reduced just for the fun of the
sport, lust as huge crowds attend the
base ball games" they added. Now that
was about one of the humOrouseSt little
things these race-track people gave ut
.trvfN% fr,Gf
as well compare a dish of red raspberries
with cream to a layout Of wax flowers
under glass case to try to compare
ball game with card of afternoon races
at a race track. The reason. or reasons,
ought to be perfectly obvious In the first
place, as the astute Shah Of Persia OBJ
served to the King of England a good
many years ago. anybody knows that
one horse can beat another" and If there
is any imaginable fun sitting on a race
track grandstand or standing on race
track lawn and watching a field Of nags
career around track, with no betting In
terest in the thing whatever. then the
present writer would like to have dia-
gram and blue prints calculating the
same. There isn't any action to that
stuff. There isn't any skill or thrill in
it without betting. The nose finish even
doesn't provoke enough enthusiasm TO
keep the blood warm on a hot day
Moreover there are very few folks who
ever really see a horse race from begin
ming to end. or who. for that matter. ever
really know which horse is in front and
has winning chance. right down to the
end of the race, when the field nears the
wire. This is especially true of the races
in which the fields take the long straight
away courses, when only big uprising OF
dust announces that the horses have
turned the bend and are getting toward
the stretch. The fellows with field glasses
who make the charts. Of course. know
which horses are in the lead. but the puo-
lie never knows much about II till the tape
has been passed and the numbers are put
up.
At a ball game it is, OF course. ire
mendouSly different The whole scheme
of things at the call of game is right on
view. SO close 10 the people who've paid
their way in that they could toss bis
cult at the participants If they felt toSsy.
Moreover, there's action and skill and
fun and science and thrill and things al
every stage of the ball game. Human
beings with brains are engaged at it. The
game has as many angles and variations
as billiards. and the watcher is liable to
see some new kink at any minute Com
pare all this to the dull business of
watching or trying to watch. a more or
less crazy lot of horses swinging around
field six times in an afternoon with no
chance to get a bet down It's like say
ing that the bunch. If they had to choose
aganZa with a whole lot of pretty girls
and a Punch and Judy show. and the
Punch and Judy show costing just six
times much as the pretty girl show
it's equivalent to saying that the gang
would fall for the Punch and Judy Law
out Even IT, as is contemplated, the
price of admission to the tracks is re-