WHERE RACING THRIVES

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 17 (Supplement)

WHERE RACING THRIVES

FAVOURITE PASTIME IN SOVIET

RUSSIA.

BETTING FEVER EXPLOITED,

encouraged for revenue

PURPOSES.

(By N. L. STRAYEB.)

Horse races and betting on horses — these most "bourgeois" pleasures—are thriving these days in Soviet Bnssia. There are two fine courses at Moscow, one for trotting and one for running events. Tor trotting tltere is a course which is sandy and well taken care of, with a big grandstand dating back' to pre-war days. For running there is a lawn which is not very good and which has a small grandstand. Since the racecourses are in the heart of Moscow, they are enjoyed by the working people. In fact, they are the favourite pastime of the people. On the day of the "Derby" about 50,000 spectators attend the races, and on any ordinary Sunday there are usnally 10,000 present. This sport has also the advantage that it is practised during the winter and i summer and night. Owing to an innovation of the organisers, the trotting races may be held at night, when the entire arena is surrounded by electric lights, which produce'sufficient light for the yellow sand and permit no false shadows. The horses do not seem to mind the lights, and the State Treasury earns much on such evenings, since all the income from the betting goes to the State and constitutes an inexhaustible source of revenue all the year round.

The Russian trotting horses are fine animals, strong and graceful, with sleek hair »n/T well groomed. Since there are no private stables, the colours of the different Soviet republics fight against each other and try to capture the prizes, which the State thus takes out of one pocket to put back into another. The main stables and colours of the Soviet republics are in Soviet Russia, 16 registered stables, with a total of 2092 trotting horses, 125 saddle horses and 261 work horses. The State of Morfhangtr has about 303 trotters, Elansky about 220 trotters and Moscow 130 trotters. Ukraine has six stables with a total of 480 trotters, 272 saddle horses and 144 work horses. Tha betting fever, which elsewhere is rather suppressed, is courageously exploited at the racetrack for the State Treasury. The race crowds in Hoscow are rather silent. They express their displeasures only by a long murmur, and they joy by firm applause. They are_ not surprised that the grandstand is divided into three parts and that the poor proletarian cannot enter the first, or second ■ reservation except if he wins a lot ol ■ money at the races, or if he is a member of the Government or of the Tcheka.