El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-06-22
One Good Handicapped Checks Out
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Maginn Tried to Tote Fair With Public
By JOHN E WRAY.

1T LOUIS. No, June ga good
man checked out Of this abode or
- trouble when Ed Maginn Of st
Louis. closed his final account and
passed on-for all time. Maginn was
good in the sense that. he was er-
ficient in his line and incorruptiDie IN
Maginn. for years, was Handicapped
and racing secretary at various tracks
then controlled by the Tilles-Adler-Cella
interests A secretary is the silent IN
seen protector Of the publc'B interest
aginst the wiles Of cOnniving owners
Under the best Of auspices and stew
ards, the racing game is peFpeIually
suffering from the endeavor OF the
ever present cheating element TO put
The duty of the Handicapped is to
nullify the effRrts of these men, both
in the interests Of the Jockey club he
represents and of the public, on Wnom
the sport depends.
1Iaginn never slept-on the job. Per
haps the only time they ever had him
guessing was when three Of the most
prominent owners in the west entered
into a conspiracy 10 surround all the
coin in the Delmar race track ring py
'shooing in the favorite."
The three men owned the three best
handicap horses at the track and Il
was so close between the equine per-
formers that a slight change in condi-
tons might result in a victory for one
OF the other.
So the trio concocted an agreement
that whenever these three horses
hooked up in a race, the favorite was
the one TO win, the contenders all be-
ing taken And the syndicate was to
get down" heavily on this basis.
This policy resulted in the artificial
development of one Of the mystery
horses Of the turf. Redleaf. who came
10 life one day at Is to and there
after won nine successive races
n
The public went wild about RedIeaf.
But they were not half as wild as was
Naginn, who saw what the pubic
didn't-a cheating game being put over
with himself seemingly poWerless
to help. He couldn't rule anybody or
for the favorite was winning and the
public and extremely popular choice
was performing strictly to outward
form. Nor could the scouts get any
thing on the conspirators.
Maginn was certain Of the existence
Of the conspiracy, however, and TOOK
II upon himself TO eliminate it TAX
ing advantage Of a jockey club rule,
he threw out the entries of the trium-
virate dav after dav and finally after
three weeks they took their stables
away for good consumed that their
looting days were done Maginn's great
regret was that he could not rule them
off
In those days It was a nervy handi-
capUer who would chase away from his
track the three best stables there II
was characteristic Of the man that
nothing stood in the way II his enforce
ment Of honesty, wherever he could.
AIaginn's place probably cannot be
satisfactory filled from all angles by
any living expert at the game. But the
sporting world suffers less from the
loss Of a racing expert than from hav-
ing one regular man subtracted from
its now scanty roster
Even Newark Sides1vipes Us.
Phil Ball certainly has a jinx for
jockey. Ball is a good horse but the
way he has been ridden and spurred
by bad fortune. since coming into
possession of the desire Of his life, a
major league baseball club, is enough
TO break the spirit Of a less game
sport.
Time was when Ball thought ne
would like TO own team and give St
Louis a winner He is doing that same
thing right now, If you'll happen TO
notice, but il isn't winning any ap-
probation at the box office.
After struggling TO gain recognition
at home. Balls club is having a des-
perate time making an impression
abroad despite the splendid showing
made by Jones and his fast-flying
bunch.
Good Ball at That.
Jones' club is now playing baseball
Of the sort that once won a worlds
championship from a club then esti-
mated the greatest baseball machine
IN the world The Fielders today, with