Evening star., 1937-07-15
Pure Theory Is Out,

A ND he says that you cannot handi-
cap the running horses with
book of rules in your hand-in other
words. pure theory will get you no.
where. or thereabout
THE pure theory of handicapping,"
said Mr. Campbell, shifting his gaze
from the salmon to the salad, ''is to
select and weigh your horses so that
they will all run exactly even, re-
eardless of ability. But your profess
sional Handicapped is satisfied when
he gets close finish between two
horses, and, when he gets three of
them to finish in bunch, he is tickled
to death.
Nov, say you are arranging a stake
cace, and you have about 20 horses
ut your disposal The first thing to
do is eliminate the bad ones And
that isn't hard. Your average racing
fan could do the elimination work
al right, and he could 60 on from
there and make a pretty fair race
among the good horses, handicappinz
them correctly
But what is he going to do with
the ones that are left? Your pro-
fessional Handicapped has got to build
. whole card Of races every day, and
he has got to satisfy the owners and
trainers in every race. The trainer
always is looking for the right spot
Tor his horse. He won't want to run
his 2-year-old filly against colts and
geldings. He wants to run her against
a field Of 2-year-old flllies. And he
wants to be sure he has chance
to win.
Your amateur might know enough
about those f1llies to make race, but
would he satisfy the trainer? That
takes a wide acquaintance, and it
takes knowledge of local conditions
well. anyhow, you have come a long
way from pure theory already.
Must Satisfy Every Trainer.
YOU must build a card for all
classiflcations of horse for your 2
and year olds and up-for your colts
eeldings and f1llies-for your maidens
and platers-for your one-race win
ners-for your limited winners-for
your stake horses-and you've got
70 give every trainer a spot where
he thinks he might win
Most people believe that the real
good horses, the ones that carry big
weight. get the worst of it from
Handicapped. That's not true. It
works the other way The inferior
horses, the hghtweights, get the worst
OF 1t. And that's because running a
race track is business, and a prac-
tcal business.
You see, you must have good horses
IN your race, to attract business. and
you can't get the best horses by
threatening to saddle them with $50
pounds. even if that's what they ought
10 be carrying. So you cater to the
good ones, and the poor ones, who
deserve a break, get the worst OF the
weights.
That's long way from pure
theory. too. Your amateur handi-
capper might not know about that"
Mr.. Campbell studied the salad some
more and plunged a thoughtful fork
into the heart of it.
Writing Expert Has Edge.
Ill tell you, though" he said
where the outsider-the news
paper selector, for instance-has the
edge on us regular track men. He's
only concerned with six horses, the six
winners. We have to work with a
hundred horses, and try to figure how
each OF them can win. That's the
reason why the outsider enjoys a
better day often than the track handi-
capper. and that's the handicapper's
headache"
1t was in 1905 that MIR. John Blanks
Campbell-he was named for Capt.
John Blanks, the champion cusser of
the Mississippi River-got his first
track job as clerk of scales on the old
City Park Course in New Orleans
Since then he has held every kind of
track job, in Mexico, the United
States and Canada, at the 48 tracks
mentioned before And the gist of
Mr.. John Blanks Campbell's expert
ence Is that you cannot run the
horses with rule book.
I'm kidding myself if I tell you
different" says Mr.. Campbell.
(Copyright 1887. by the North American