The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-23


The opening Of the Canadian racing sea-
son at Toronto yesterday and Of the Mani
toba racing season at Brandon tomorrow
brings TO American lovers Of the sport
q Kings sOrrOWful thoughts Of the fall
or THEN favorite pastime. When one reads
IN the sporting journals that the Buffalo
lan0lcap failed TO fill. that the stakes at
fSohie' \. y, had TO be re0pened because
mere were not enough entries, that the
leffe Haute handicap was called off, and
mat even the great Columbus handicap
did not iii, he begins TO realize how
thoroughly the racing interests have de-
Sltned- The bOOkmaker has been driven
from pillar to post until there are only
TWO large cities in the United States where
ne can ply his trade In the open-Pimlico,
near Baltimore, and Latonia, near Gin
Only two years ago there were sixty
thousand people at the races at Belmont
park on Decoration day. All lovers Of
speedy horSeflesh in New York seemed
70 be there. The bookmaker flourished
in all his glory, and it is said a million
dollars changed hands in the betting.
Last year the crowd had dWindled TO
twenty thousand, and this year there were
less than five thousand people within the
gates. Tt is the same everywhere. Al
most i'm a night the American people have
changed from the worlds greatest lovers
OF horseracing to determined opponents OF
the game.
It was thought that the outlawing of
the race track in the United States would
result In the transplsnting Of the Yankee
racing stables to Canada, but Canadian
sportsmen have declared that they want
no "carpet-bag'' racing there, and that
they will not permit the long seasons that
have been the custom on American tracks.
However. the Canadians have not yet
reached the frame Of mind where the
bOOkmaker is looked upon as an outlaw.
The Cubans do not have the same scru-
Piles against "carpetbag" racing as the
Canadians, and the spOrtsmen of Havana
are hoping to induce the American horse
men to come there for a winter racing
season.
1t has long been claimed that horse
racing cannot flourish without the book
maker, and this finds no better proof than
in the case OF the Saratoga track, which,
up TO the time of the opening or Bel
mont park. was the finest race course
I'm the world. Who does not recall sara
toga- richest summer resort in America:
place where money flowed freer than the
waters Of its many springs: summer mead
quarters of both great political parties
IN New York; and meeting place 81
statesmen from every part of the coun-
try? Yet the grandeur that was Greece
and the glory that was Rome are no
more departed than the splendor OF Sara
toga- King Thoroughbred reigns there no
more, and a bill is pending in the New
York legislature for the sale of the
Saratoga property to the state
Never i'm the history Of the country did
racing give more promise Ul titi iiAc4AtliNF
than in 1907. An army of men greater
i'm numbers than that with which the
United States won the Mexican war touhd
10 their means Of livelihood Enough mil
lions were invested in the sport TO equip
a second-rate navy. and enough millions
more were annually spent in its upkeep
to maintain that navy. Never had sucn
tremendo us crowds gathered at the
tracks; never had there been better
horses. better jockeys. better trainers. or
better tracks But what seemed to be
the signs Of even a greater future proved
to be the beginning of the end. Inc pros
peritv Of the sport contributed to its un-
doing and today horses that were cheered
by tens Of thousands as they led their
field under the wire. are selling for less
than 10 per cent Of their one-ume value.
game He played both ends against the
middle with too great success status
ticians have figured out the percentages
of the bOokmaker, and these figures snow
that his chances were 80 to 40 In other
words for every dollar that was posted
i'm bets he made 80 cents and the bettor
20 cents He might lose today and also
tomorrow, but the end OF the season would
show him well ahead Of the game The
man who could least afford it was the
most frequent loser He was the ''piSer.
the fellow who put UP his money on
T "hunch." or laid il because he had heard
a rumor from the inside that this or that
horse was going to win certain race
The poor fellow did not know that the
bookmakers start most OF these rumors
themselves that the bookmakers laid their
odds after someone held a stop watch on
the entries at their sunrise tryOUts. The
public simply constituted itself the guar
dian Of the ''piker' when it banished the
bookmak er.
Never in legislative history has any
sport died so hard as when racing met
its death in the New York legislature. II
is reported that more than $4,000 was
spent IN trying to stay the resistless tide
of public sentiment. But II was without
avail The Agnew-HaTt law was enacted
and the bookmaker in New York became
man without a job. Then California
became the Mecca OF the sporting ele-
ment. who flOcked there like the gold