Trotters & Evening

Old Bolsheviks, schooled in austerity, were left behind last week as thrill-seeking young Communists staged in Moscow a lavish Red Derby complete with pari-mutuel betting. Since Moscow shops have lately been permitted to copy a few Paris models and sell them at fantastic prices to the wives of potent Reds, there were scores of modishly dressed women in the grandstands. To silence shocked old Bolsheviks, and give the Red Derby a veneer of serious purpose, great signboards were plastered with quotations from a recent speech by War Minister Klimentiy ("Klim") Voroshilov: WITHOUT HORSES WE CAN'T WORK DON'T FORGET OUR HORSES WE NEED HORSES FOR DEFENSE AS WELL AS FOR WORK

Thirty-five of the afternoon's 37 turf events were trotting races, and trotting horses are of little use as cavalry mounts or for plowing. With a guilty conscience Moscow was having fun. The big event was the Grand All-Union Trotting Handicap and everyone seemed to have fistfuls of greasy rubles to bet on Evening. "He is sure to win," argued Bolshevik tipsters. "His grandsire is one of the best American stallions we have imported."

Sure enough, Evening won. But the joy of his thousands of backers turned sour as Bolsheviks learned what happens in pari-mutuels when a favorite wins. After the State had taken its fat percentage there was just enough left to return to each better on Evening exactly the sum he had bet. Only real winners were the Soviet stables which entered the four leading horses. Among them the State divided a purse of 30,000 rubles, part to be used in paying bonuses to drivers, trainers and stable boys of the winning mounts. Evening's driver, called "Citizen Pianov" by earnest Soviet sportswriters, received, in addition to his bonus, one month's holiday on the Black Sea near the one-time summer palace of Tsar Nicholas II, at Government expense.

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