OCR Text |
Show : 13ElciFJSST GfflGJ Unprecedented Number of Tracks Next Summer ; Founder of Park Dead. By JACK SALLEE. LOUISVILLE. Kv Jan. 7. Glowing reports received i'rom al! sections indicate indi-cate that 1.917 is goiiiff to be a great year : on the American turf. With the closing , of stakes not far off. the various jockey clubs are viewing: the future with com-. ' placency, They have been investigating these reports and found them true. Rather than feeling that conditions are satisfactory for t lie present year, the stewards are now beginning plans they harbored a decade ago. It would not be surprising to find that 1918 will have staKe lists that will outshine anything since the palmiest days of the sport in the east. Competition among pace tracks is goring gor-ing to be keener this spring than it has been in a long while, but the summer season will find more tracks in operation than at any time in years. In tact, the number will be close if not a record, if all plans go through. The summer season sea-son will find Canadian tracks in full blast. These courses will conflict in some instances not only with one an j other, but also with Latonia and one or two eastern tracks. But with the con stantly- increasing number of thorough-breds thorough-breds ready to ruce these difficulties will not cause much trouble. Kentuckians are not worrying about stables leaving for other Darts because of the richness of all events. The selling I races, as the rules now stand, will be 1 worth &QQ, and handicaps, in many Iiit stances, a good deal more. In addition to this generous outlay for horsemen, there will be an attractive stake list. With big purses for all grades of performers per-formers the four jockev clubs are planning plan-ning the biggest year in their history. Kentucky's Big Stakes. Churchill Downs, with the Kentucky derby; Douglas Park, with the Kentucky handicap, and the Latonia track, with the Latonia derby, have enough to hold most of the big stables which pronably will eome on from the east in April. Though there has been much talk ahout Hourless. Campfire and a few other cracks from the east, reports during the past few days from New York indicate that Mr. Belmont and Mr. Wilson right now are undecided about sending their stars to Kentucky for the big prize In fact, Wilson said that he did' not believe he would send Campfire here, but Secretary Secre-tary Hamilton Applegaie is reiving more upon the sporting instincts of the New ork millionaire than anvthing else and he, for one, will not be surprised to find Campnre and Hourless both in the list of nominations for the Kentucky derbv. With all the other good ones in the race the glory would be too great to overlook. le 1 Irf. ost 9 ntable figure last week in the death of Colonel Jim-Douglas retired re-tired financier Colonel Douglas "had not been interested actively In the turf during dur-ing he past fifteen years, since he sofd out hi runners and trotters at a di-- ls ' waf'tb fLexirton- Colonel Douglas Doug-las was the founder of Douglas Parle where John Hachmcister holds sSm-and I"" meeting for Louis Cella, who pur. chased the track several vears a"o CvX nyl Douglas built the track fn the W lJ2 the strongest points on the Grand circuit, but the trotter trot-ter could not supplant the runner; but at that he received a magnificent sum for the course. Among the horses he bred was Heno. This youngster he sold to John E. Madden for ? 500 as a. weanling. Thougn be raised many runners he never campaigned cam-paigned them. He campaigned trotters with fair success. He was a familiar figure fig-ure around Douglas Park and Churchill Downs of late years. Despite nis 74 years, he was still agile. His first stopping stop-ping plaee each season at Douglas Park was in the office of General Manager John Haehmeister. After meeting a few of his friends he would get Frank Bruen to mark his card, and then he would go out and watch the horses throughout the afternoon. Though he was at one time "lottery king" of Kentucky, he was never a pjunger on the turf. Praises American Horse. John E. Madden, master of Hamburg Place and one of the best known turf authorities in this country, in a state? i mem made a few days ago, declared that ! the American thoroughbred is the equal of any in the world. His statement fol lows : The past season has demonstrated j that the American thoroughbred is the equal of any in the world at any distance. The Lexington blood in the horse Star Hawk, which came from England, and other winners in America shows that American blood will assert itself. While in England, Richard Croker's stallion Orhy. whose dam is by our own Hanover, may be mentioned. Orby, you know, is sixth on the list of leading sires this year, among his winners being Diadem, two-year-old winner of 512,015, the largest two-year-old winner in England having only ?16,S75 to his credit; Eos, three-year-oid winner of $10,3-15, etc. The marked improvement of the racehorse today and the demand for the Interest in the thoroughbred sire shown by farmers show its increase ing popularity. Another pleasing feature of the situation at present is the large increase of patrons from the leisure class, both as breeders and attendants at the race track. It is to be regretted that the Western West-ern associations, Kentucky among the number, have abolished steeple-, chasing, a sport admired by all, especially espe-cially by women. The war in Europe has awakened the authorities to the great necessitv of having good thoroughbreds, and many who formerlv abused the running run-ning horse now stand in the ranks with those who see much virtue in him. That the winter meeting in New Orleans Or-leans is going to be the most successful held in this country since the days when the fair grounds ran wide open" is now an assured fact, according to those who see the situation with a view to criticising criti-cising things done by the management. No details have been overlooked and the horsemen have been generous in their nominations to the stakes. Judge Murphy, Mur-phy, as usual, is making a strong play against the hand books and the gambling element. He has always held that the oral betting arrangement in the Palm Garden there is of sufficient proportions to accommodate any reasonable bettor. He claims that those who want to do the plunging injure the sport and are not wanted. |