Tropical Forecast

During the past year $517,382,107 were bet in the pari-mutuels at U.S. race tracks --$100,000,000 more than the national handle in 1940. Recalling that horse racing boomed during World War I, U.S. turfmen last week wondered what to expect in 1942, watched with fingers crossed the opening week at Miami's Tropical Park.

Cozy little Tropical, founded by ex-Bootlegger Big Bill Dwyer in 1931, is the perennial curtain raiser of the U.S. winter racing season. Snubbed by the East's upper crust and its gold-plated horses, Tropical managed nevertheless to keep things going until neighboring Hialeah and California's Santa Anita, headliners of the winter program, were ready for their act.

Last week Tropical opened with unprecedented fanfare. The Whitneys, the Wideners, the Woodwards and even Mrs. Shipwreck Kelly (Brenda Frazier) rubbed elbows with the turf's tinhorn sports. Reason: Florida's "friendly track" was recently purchased by a group of polo-playing, hunt-club socialites headed by Baltimorean Henry L. Straus. M.F.H., and the millionaire Munns (Gurnee and Charles Alexander) of Washington, Palm Beach and Paris.

Mr. Straus, a onetime General Electric engineer, invented the American totalisator, an electrical device whose 1,500,000 moving parts automatically calculate and indicate the odds in pari-mutuel betting. The Munns backed him when he started to manufacture the contraption a decade ago. Their American Totalisator Co. collects a royalty on every bet made at the 45 U.S. race tracks that use its "tote."*

Last fall, after they bought out Tropical's controlling stockholders (including onetime Capone Henchman John Patton, Bookmaker Frank Erickson and underworldly Owney Madden, who had suddenly been branded "undesirable" by the Florida State 'Racing Commission), Mr. Straus and the Munns had misgivings over the soundness of their venture. The Florida Legislature, seeking to raise $2,000,000 for old-age pensions, voted to increase its 1942 pari-mutuel "take" from 3% to 8%. The track's share remained at 7%.

That meant that out of every dollar wagered at Florida race tracks 15-c- (instead of 10-c-) would be taken out of the pool before dividing it among the winning betters. How horse players would react to this record levy caused Tropical's new owners some discomfort. Then came war to make matters worse.

Last week their worries appeared to be needless. During the first three days of Tropical's meet, 21,000 racing fans turned out, poured $698,000 into its pari-mutuel machines. It was a larger turnout and larger turnover than the track enjoyed during its first three days a year ago. "It shows," chirped Tropical's Board Chairman Herbert Bayard Swope (see p. 54), "that the first war jitters are over and the people want relaxation such as is furnished by racing and other sports."

* Still used at Hialeah is the Australian totalisator (the original tote), a mechanical-electrical device invented at the turn of the century by Australia's Sir George Julius.

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