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Show RACING WITHOUT BETTING IS TAME Butte, Mont. Aug. IS Good-sized purses, which attracted good runners and special trains, will not bring out crowds to horse races unless there is betting. This is the opinion of a group of sportsmen who today announced an-nounced that there would be no fur- mcii .in.cnijJL it i uii ponies at toe Deer Lodge track. The races were run for a week and then a layoff of a week was announced, and this was extended a week. Now the horsemen who brought their stables here from the Denver meeting are wondering who is going to pay the feed bills until un-til they have a "getaway" week at the state fair, where $S000 has been hung up for running race purses. Last January the Montana assembly assem-bly passed nn anti-betting law which did away with tho Butte race meeting. meet-ing. However a group of sportsmen thought they had things arranged with the county officials of the adjoining ad-joining county whereby races could be run and oral betting allowed. The Butte race fans went to the meeting for three days on special trains, and found that the sheriff at the Deer Lodge track meant what he said when he announced there would be no betting. Then, with no betting In sight, the crowds dropped off, and Butte a town which turned loose millions' of : doljars on the ring In days gone by, turned a cold shoulder to a race meet- ' ing where there was no betting. Bands fl and wild west shows between races couldn't get tho followers out as long as the sheriff kept betting, even of the oral brand, under the ban, and so the race meeting has been called off, with the promoters losers by several thousands. If the oral betting proposition had been allowed at Deer Lodge an attempt at-tempt would have been made to bring the runners to Butte for a ten days' meeting. |