Evening journal., 1913-01-02
DIAN IN DCCrTNn
1 LHIv 1V NkJUkIYU
NO-HOPPEE RULE
American TrOttinG Association
to Abolish Penalty on
PAGERS Next Year

lut lOIlutOmiuB hptCldi ctcoiJu VI
the congress Of the American Trot-
ting Association, which is called TO
be held in Chicago next February, is
already attracting the attention OF
horsemen because the general i'm
preston is that the purpose Of the
gathering will be TO rescind the rule
against the hopple and also abolish
the system under which purses and
stakes are divided among the win
ners by points.
That the American Association is
now ready to allow the free use of the
straps on PAGERS is no surprise; in
fact, from the time both parent as
sociations adopted this rule IL was
freely believed that it would not hold
and that the racing sidewheeler with
the under harness mill be with us
long after this generation has passed
into eternity.
After a short trial the National As
ISOLATION quickly and very wisely
abandoned its crusade against the
hopples, while the American enfOrc-
ed il last season with such disastrous
results that it has required a spec
ial session of its congress 10 remedy
the mistake
IL has been estimated that on ac-
count of these two rules. so different
from those OF the National, the Amer
ican lost close to two-thirds of It's
members in 1912, an incident which
fully demonstrated the fact that i
the free use Of the Indiana pajamas'
is ruinous to racing sport or a draw.
back to improvements in horse-breed
ing. the active horseman did not agree
with the powers. They want the free
us Of hopples and must have il.
Many lovers Of the sport claim tha
the rule forbidding the use of hop
Piles on PAGERS was not only silly bu
a hardship on horsemen and a grea
majority Of the country's trottinl
track managers. IL is all right fo
the wealthy fancier of the American
trotting horse to ridicule the idea o
the hoppled PAGER being the poo
mans horse and the standby Of tn
I half-mile track manager, yet such ha
been the fact and will remain for
long time.
The racegoing public in genera
4 sees very little difference in a trot
ting or pacing contest. as the on
pleases and amuses him as much a
the other
II there is anything in the extraOr
binary increase OF PAGERS over tn
more desirable trotter it is up to tn
breeders to solve the question by dis
couragng the production of PAGERS
as a number Of up-to-date breeder
are doing now and have done 70
years.
It has long been demonstrated tina
there is no profit in breeding PAGERS
for the fastest and best of them com
mand no high prices. neither are the
in demand by foreign buyers. NC
long ago it was shown that most {
our fastest trotters have either gon
abroad at more than paying prices G
kept in this country at high values
Every one of the 2.05 or better troi
ters of 1912 have been sought afte
by foreigners and those that are her
! cannot be bought
Such is not the demand for fa'
PAGERS as OF the six new PAGERS tb;
took records faster than 2.05, and II
, nine that entered that list In 19i
, none has been sought after, not eve
, by American breeders.
a total Of 91 PAGERS entered II
] new 210 list OF 1912. and all wei
good race horses. as only one of thi
total gained his mark by the tin-cu
, route against nine among the "a ne
2.10 trOtters
The number of former 2.10 pace
that took faster records in 1912 WI
"a. of which only Don Pronto ira
eled over the tin route. against thr'
in the same trotting division. whiC
had only l6.
The so-colled standard bred paciI
, horse will die out gradually al
I, steadily when the men raising horsi
for profit will fully understand the
e market value and mate their mar
2 with strictly trotting bred horsl
I possessing trotting speed