El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-02
Mew Rules May Help Make
1914 Race Season Success
Reduction Of Entrance Fees Will Also Help Rule Pro
vides that Horse With 2:1O Record Does Not Al
ways Have to Race in That Class; Pen
alizing Of Losers Abolished
BY FRANK G. nIENkF.

EW YORK, Feb. 2-The 1914
trotting and pacing season
! y promises to be the best and the
most successful in the history Of the
harness game
A circuit that eliminates long jumps
viii save thousands Of dollars in rail-
read mileage, a reduction in the en-
trance fees for horses. and two new
rules which solve the handicap prob
lem that has perplexed for so many
years were brought about through the
recent meeting Of the Grand Circuit
stewards at Grand Rapids, Mich.
Another big feature that augurs a
successful season is the reaWakened
enthusiasm in the trotting fraternity
and the certainty that because Of the
new rules many of the men, proml-
nent in trotting circles years ago. who
had retired, viii do a real come
back"
delight by harness horse owners, pro
vfdes that If a horse with a 80 mark
fails to win in that class he may De
entered in his next start IN the z:1t
class. If he fails to win race IN the
2.11 class he can be back. to the
slower classes until he wins race,
no matter if It carries him back TO
the 2;20 class.
Believes Rule VIII Help Game.
"Such a rule certainly win be a.
great help TO the trOtting and pacing
game" declared S. S. Toman, editor or
a hOrseman's magazine, and one or
the best versed men on trotting al
fairs in the country. very otten a
horse that cannot go better than z;1o
on an average, through some phenom-
email burst of speed, viii travel mile
in 2.10. Perhaps never again viii ne
duplicate that mark, yet, under Ihe
old rules, he was torced 20 uaveI
ever afterWard in the 2:lO class Where
ne was Outclassed and never had a
chance for the money.
Admiral Dewey, the great stallion,
went heat in 2-03 Sd where his Win
ming record was 2:O6 So \ ct ne has
had to travel in the 2:04 class. Peter
Jackson ran a heat in the. Kentucky
Futurity in 2-0S 80 but his winning
race record is nearly five seconds
slower. Flower Direct went heat
in 2:01 last year, yet lost her race,
and may never again travel as fast as
she did then"
No PenaIizlng ROrses on Time.
The other important new rule, just
as revolutionary and equally as help
ful to the racing game, eliminates the
penalizing of a horse with the best
mark he made in heat PROVIDED ne
does not win the race. Under the ola
rules, if a 2:15 horse won heat IN
2.10 he would thereafter be placed IN
the 2.10 class whether he won the
race or not The new rules provide
that only the race winner will be
pena1ized with his best heat record.
However, the mark of the horse that
wins a heat, but not the race, will be
kept and recorded as a credit to his
sire.
The new rules charge an entrance
fee of only three per cent of the purse
for each horse entered in a race, with
an additional seven per cent to be
deducted from purse winners
The 1914 circuit, laid out by the
stewards, shows the average jump to
be only a trifle over $50 miles. Tt
covers 1884 miles, which is much less
than in other years. The longest
Jump VIII be from Hartford, Conn, to
Detroit, Mich, a distance of 675 miles,
while the shortest viii be from Grand