The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-06-11
:: ADDITIONAL SPORTS .:T
TrOtting Races At
 Narragansett July 20 to August }

Pawtucket, R. T., June 10.-Har. ness horse racing, streamlined to the 1SlO pattern, is coming back to New Engladn after an absence of over e decade. Sponsored by the Rhode Island Trotting Club, the Grand Circuit, the Big Show" of the trctting sport, will stage l3- day meeting at Narragansett Park July % to August 3. It will mark the first time in 33 years that the top flight standard have per- formed in Rhode Island, and the territory adjacent to Narragansett Boy is even more eager than the rest of New England for the return of the sport, once the most popu- las in this secin.
 Harness racing with the pari-mu- tual system of betting on the scale for which Narragansett Parks facil- ities permit, is brand new, but the mutuels are only one of the addi- tons which lovers of harness rac- ing count on to restore the sport to the peak of popular favor. In the past few years Grand Circuit racing has come under the' control of . group of men who are actuat- ed solely by their love of the sport. Working without a thought of the cost to themselves, they have mod ernized 1t until today harness rac- ing, only recently relegated to mat inees and gentlemen's driving clubs, is actually competing on even terms with thoroughbred racing.
 Automatic Gate
 One of the chief aids in the march back to popularity of harness rac- ing Is the automatic starting gate. One said drawback to old style harness racing, was the pernicious system of starting. Expeditions scor- ing for position not only wore out horses, 1t wore thin the patience of spectators and often made an after noon of racing 8 dreary thing to attend. New Englanders will get their first glimpse of the barrier that has done away with all this when the trotters come to Gansett in July.
 The new McNamara barrier was first used last year at Goshen, N. r., and proved an immediate and unqualified success. Mechanically it Is simplicity itself. A rope with dang ling partitions of string to guide each horse is hung across the track 50 yards up the stretch back from the wire. One hundred feet further back is another tape that limits the field from getting too much of a run- ming start.
 Once in this enclosure a phono- graph record counts slowly from 1 to IA and on the last count the barrier springs. The horses parade the reverse way of the track, then turn and cont down slowly; when they reach the wire they are at the top of their gait. If horse beats the barrier, the field Is recalled by flagman stationed down the course. In this event the horse is not dis qualified but the driver is fined and set down, while another driver, chos- en by the Judges, is substituted.
 Starts with the McNamara barrier averaged 14 seconds at Goshen last year. This time compares very fav- orably with the time used in send Ilg away field of runners, even from the new Puett electric gate introduced to New England at Gam sett this year. Harness horse racing, the 1940 version that will be on display at Gansett, has come long way from the half-mile ocals of the county fairs and the pumpkin shows of the gay 11inetieS. With the mu- tuels, credited with making running racing a sport for the average man, ready to do the same thing for the harness horse sport, with electric tote board and an electric starting barrier, the revival of harness rac- ing at Gansett in July will give the sport . big lift back to It's former popularity in New Finland.