AMERICAN RACING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17126, 5 December 1929, Page 8

AMERICAN RACING

Jj COMPARED TO N.Z. B WORLD’S BIGGEST STAKE \\ . . _____ . An interesting ligiirc on the Malolo, which arrived at Auckland on Sunday on a pleasure cruise of the Pacific, is •a millionaire American sportsman, Mr. (James W-. Coffroth, who at one time rivalled Tex Rickard as a fight- ! promoter, and who is now famed as •president of the Tijuana Jockey Club, : which owns one of America’s greatest : racecourses. His name is given to the : (Coffroth Handicap, the richest race in , '.(tjhe world. Twelve years ago, when (Mr. Coffroth retired from the business • of fightjpromoting, he founded the ■Coffroth Handicap, carrying a stake •valued at 4000 dollars (£800). Today the purse is valued at 100,000 doldars (£20,000). This year’s winning (horse, Golden Prince, won a stake of r£19,f)40 and, in addition, his trainer : •and jockey received £IOOO each, so 1 (that £21,540 went out on the winning horse alone, exceeding by several hun-;" jdrcds of dollars the highest stakes (given anywhere else in the world. The,: .two-year-old Futurity Handicap atj (Belmont Park carries a stake in the[ ■vicinity of £IB,OOO. j To win the Coffroth Handicap means a fortune for the owner of the winning •horse, yet, in spite of the tremendous •sums involved in horsevacing in America, Mr. Coffroth thinks the sport is ■on a lower plane in the United States •than it is in Australia and probably in ■New Zealand. j COMMERCIALISM IN AMERICA i , i “Iwas immensely interested in our ■recent visit to the Commonwealth,” ho ■said, O-and from what I saw I am convinced you people here are greater racing enthusiasts than .we are in America. •We run racing more as a commercial proposition than a sport, and there is ■not the same tradition about our great ■race,tracks. Legislative interference ■is a most disturbing feature in the (States. Take the case of my own ■club. They prohibited betting on ■racecourses in California and compelled ■us to take our sport across the border ■into Mexico. At Caliente, which is ju9t. over the international ■boundary south of Los Angeles and ■San Diego, we have built an entirety ■now track to take the place of the •famous Tijuana track which has been ( ■dismantled, and X am looking keenly i forward to the., opening meeting on December 28. TRACKS AND HORSES j' “You undoubtedly have better race •tracks than we have in America,” hej added. “I consider the racecourse atj ■Randwick, Sydney, very beautiful. In! fact, I should say there is only one ■track in the United States that can •measure up to it, and that is Saratoga. Your horses are the world’s best, and, what is more, you hold on ■to them. It is the most difficult thing iii the world to get hold of an English stallion of any importance. To allow such a horse out of England is •regarded by English owners as worse than lose majeste. They hold on to their horses like they guard pictures ijj, their art galleries. “I consider it very likely America will adopt the totalisator system of Australia and New Zealand. The Australian barrier is the finest thing of its sort I have seen, and the kind ■of machines I saw at Flemington, 'Caulfield, and especially Randwick, arc •what we are bound to have in the States.”