The Washington times., 1934-01-27
HiGIeah OPENING
A Lesson for ". Y.
But We Learn SLOULy.
BY BILL CoRUM

NEW YORK, Jan. 27-Close
to 1000 persons attended the
opening day of the 45-day Hia-
leah Park horse race meeting
at Miami and bet $255,717
through Charley Munn'S totali-
sator.
On the previous day Bill
Dwyer'S Tropical Park track at
the same point had closed its
most successful and profitable
meeting, with the bright prom
Use of an even better one to
come after Hialeah closes in
March.
There would be food for
thought in that for the people
interested in racing in New
York State, if the people who
run racing here were addicted
to thinking Or perhaps that
Is unkind. Perhaps I should
say If they were addicted to
keeping abreast of the times.
At lesat eight years ago this
column started squawking loud,
long and frequently that racing
as 1t was being conducted here
could not survive.
Several Reasons
This was self-evident for sew
eral reasons, among them be.
ing:
1. It was bad racing.
2. The system of betting was
worse.
8. The rules and forms under
which 1t was conducted were
as outmoded as the mustache
cup.
4. It was not really public
racing at all, but semipublic
at best. And the man who
paid his way through the gate
was the last to be considered.
even though at that time ne
was often called on to pay as
high as $11.5O to see about Is
cents worth of racing.
They laughed when I sat
down to the typewriter to
make these wholly disinterested
observations, and in all those
years I have never got one
written line, or one telephone
call, or one invitation to come
in and talk it over some time
from anybody officially con-
nected with racing in New York.
= But I have got thousands of
letters and comments from fol-
lowers Of the sport, the great
majority agreeing with me at
least in substance, and I have
also lived to hear the high
men of racing beg, help us or
we will perish.
One Tactful Person
There was never any good
reason for racing here to fall
to its present estate, and it is
my personal conviction that
just one lively, energetic and
tactful young man placed in a
reasonably responsible position
say that of public relations
counsel for the Jockey Club,
or for all the tracks-could
have saved the sport much of
this woe.
But that's water under the
bridge. The present question
is, what are the racing people
going to do now?
They are making an effort
to get what is loosely called "a
relief bill" through the State
legislature and since, so far as
I know, there is no very active
opposition to it this winter,
probably will succeed. That
will be a start. No more than
that. They will have to keep
on going from there. Once
they get relief they will need
to revise their antiquated, re-
organize their official families,
and set about trying to catch
I'D with the sport in such
states as Illinois. Maryland,
Florida, Kentucky and else
where.
-. Whether they can compete
with mutuel tracks, and par
ticular mutuel tracks with a
Totalisator, with what is known
as open betting, I don't know.
I have only been at one track
where there was open betting,
and that for only few days,
so that I don't know enough
about the system to discuss it
intelligently.
(BiH COrun. famous New YOrI
The WashiI