The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-07-15
RACING HOBBIES
MAY BE BARRED
THE LIFE OF THE HOBBIES Is
LIMITED IN THE UNITED
sTATEs-HARNEss SPORT AND
BREEDERS TO BE BENEFITED
BY THE CHANGE


hobbies in the education Of green
PAGERS or colts that they are training
at that gait should remember that the
life of the hobbled PAGER, unless, as
some apparently believe, the ruling
against their use after certain date
is rescinded, is growing short.
It is certainly to be hoped that the
hobbled PAGER has got his permanent
dimissal from harness racing. When
this is done, the owners Of trotting
stock can mark up their holdings at
least rs per cent, as a starter.
With the hobbies barred the PAGERS
will drop back from an almost equal
footings with the diagonally gated
horses to the minor place that they oc-
cupied in the early days of the sport.
Perhaps some of the breeders who
are loaded up with breeding stock OF
the families that have made their rep
utation largely through side-wheelers
that needed the hobbies will be losers
by the rule, but harness racing
breeding will be greatly benehted %
the change.
1t will also encourage the trainers OF
real merit to remain in the game. AS
u matter of fact a great percentage OF
the horses that are now being raced
with the double harness could have
been made reliable racing tools at
either the pace or trot had they fallen
into the hands of competent trainers,
or had they been owned by men that
were willing to wait for them to bel
educated.
Hobbled PAGERS can be made more
quickly than can a trotter or PAGER that
goes with his legs free. The man who
is In the game to make killing with
his horses as quickly as possible tells
his trainer to put the strops on MS
horse, hit him on the back and go after
the coin.
OF course there are exceptions, but
the chances are that his vision of get
ting rich quick will go wrong. Per-
haps the really good racing prospect
goes out and gets very fast record
and still fails to win his race. Even
II he does, he is marked where his
chances Of winning are not at all good.
THE owner has an outclassed horse
on his hands, and as the nag wears the
hobbies he is not wanted as road or
matinee horse.
Another thing that the parent assoc
lations should do is to discourage mix
I'd races. particularly while the use OF
hobbies is allowed.
A prominent Maine breeder, speaking
pf the falling off in his state, said that
81 was largely que to the prevalence OF /
mixed races at the fairs and race meet
ings.
ssThere Is no incentive for man TO
have a promising young trotter trained
in our state, for the reason that after
4 lot of money has been spent In MS
education he has got to race against
lot Of hobbled racers that have been
picked I'D out in Indiana for small
price"
Eyeryone knows that a hobbled pac-
ar can get away fast and that by the
time the driver Of the trotter has got
his horse around the first turn there Is
sure to be q wall Of swapping hobbies
ont in front of him. OF course, the
hobbled chaps will quit coming nome'
hut the good game trotter behind mas
little chance of getting through the
bunch, unless he is lot raster tnah
the hobbled chaps in front.
Occasionally a race Is split up, and
after the PAGERS have become as dead
as mackerel there Is chance 1or
GOOD trotter to make them look cheap, |
nut this is the exception and not the |
rule.
The mixed race is q nuisance and
also a menace to the breeding interests
an the sections of the country where |
tfey are fostered. 1t is rather sur
prising that agricultural associations
that are supposed to give horse racing
IN baneff the breed and promote the
breeding interests should be ABOUT the
worst offenders In this resect.
The rnanagement of the han mile
track meetings at both Hills Grove and /
at Dover have decided to try the plan
Of allowing horses which made their
records on mile tracks three SECONDS
handicap That Is, horses that nave 4
record of 2:10, on a mile track viii be
eligible to start In q :13 class on eltn-
err OF these half mile tracks.
This is something that has long
been advocated by those who are try |
ing to devise means for making the
game more popular 1t Is certainly /
worth trying and the Hills Grove and /
Dover people are deserving OF credit
FOR being the pioneers In giving the
idea a practical turn.
whether the plan will scare out some
Of the half mile people that would
otherwise be entered at their meetings
or not 1t is hard to say. It WILL how
ever give a certain class of horses
that are outclassed as far as mile track
racing is concerned q chance to try
their luck on the half mile rings. But
this kind Of a trotter or PAGER win and
his work cut out for him. even with
the three seconds allowance, when he
lines up against the class Of horSes
that are now to be found at the more
prominent half mile track meetings. 1t
takes good horse to win almost any
where these days. There is very much
less in class than there formerly was.
AS an instance, there might be two
trotters both known to be able to trot /
in 2:1O over a mile track. One Of them
has raced on the half mile tracks and /
taken q record Of. say, 2; IA. while the
other has the same record made over a /
mile ring. The mile tracker has the
privilege of starting In q 2:17 class.
though he may be d better horse than
the one that has the half mile track
record OF 2:1z.
As stated above, there is these days
nothing in class. outside Of the very
East end OF tho list 1t might be we'll