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SOUTH AMERICAN RACING RACINGAn Racing An American turfman Truman who has spent two years in the Argentine Eepublic Republic and Chile talks as follows in an interview The principal tracks of the Argentine Be puM plum ic are the Palermo and Bolgrano Brogan the for ¬ mer mere situated two miles out of Buenos Ayres the metropolis of the country Our informant states that he has traveled over a large portion of the world and is of the opinion that it is the grandest racing establishment on the globe The grand stands building of mile track club ¬ house and betting quarters cost 1500000 as they stand the ground of the Palermo track being owned by the government Trains from Buenos Ayres run right into the grounds The choicest portion of the grand stand is reserved for the President the members of the Cabinet and their families familiesThe families The only way the Argentinians Argentineans have of wa ¬ gering gearing money on the races is by the Paris mutuel mutual plan and the government conducts everything in connection with the racing at Palermo Five r cent commission is charged Every ten iuinutes urinates before a race there is a halt in the bet ¬ ting and every five minutes while the specu spec ¬ lation elation is going on four large blackboards are hoisted to let the public know the sum that has been wagered on the various contestants When the betting on a race is finally stopped three blackboards are set up before the grand stands with the otal octal number of tickets sold chalked up and thV tV amount each horse should pay can be figured by any one that understands the plan After the race is over the dividends on the first and second horses are figured by the government clerks The building where the betting is done is a very long one partitioned into about 150 booths somewhat like our elec elect ¬ tion ion booths The ordinary price of tickets is 2 but there are booths for the heavy players with different bunches of tickets made up so that any sum can be quickly wagered wageredThe wagered The horseman says that on one Sunday in November 80000 people paid to attend the races 60000 of the tickets ranging in price from 1 to 10 according to location of seats The poorer classes occupy the infield and upper part of the home stretch and admittance costs 20 cents On seven races about 4500000 was wagered paper money worth 20 cents on the dollar The money had depreciated in value through the great failure of the Baring Bros Brows BrosAmerican Roamer American owners would not like the Argen Argent ¬ tine tracks which are of turf but very flinty Breakdowns are common American and Eng ¬ lish lush riders would not fancy the treatment they would receive there The native riders com ¬ bine bines against jockeys from this and the old country and put them over the fence every time an opportunity presents itself itselfThe itself The Bolgrano Brogan is much like the Palermo es ¬ tablishment abolishment though it is conducted by a syndi syndic ¬ cate carte and not the government The course is four miles out of Buenos Ayres which is a city of about 800000 inhabitants The ladies of that country are pronounced by our turfman Truman friend the handsomest as a class he over set eyes pon peon Paris only outrivals Buenos Ayres in its turnouts he declares and the way they attend the races would astonish North Americans I There is racing at the two big courses on alter ¬ native days during the regular season I IThe Lithe The boom in races began in the 80s when Valentine an American got the Rothschilds and Barings Bearings into the great scheme for reclaim ¬ ing King the pampas When the bubble burst the great bankers were the chief sufferers and while Argentinian Argentinean money was depreciated the people of the Argentine Eepublic Republic had a large amount of the gold of the foreigners and thou ¬ sands of them wore basking on the sunny side of Easy street Senor Bocau Boca about the wealthiest man in that country paid 16000 guineas for Ormonde Hormone 9000 guineas for the French horse Athos Bathos II In all he had about twentyfive twenty horses in train ¬ ing King and 100 in his stud studAthos saturators Athos Bathos II was the best horse in the South American Republic when our turfman Truman friend was there and an idea of his worth can be had when it is known that he ran a mile in 1 39V with 127 pounds or 58 kilos up The mile rec recd ¬ ord Ford in the Argentine Eepublic Republic was 138 made with 115 pounds up Athos Bathos II took up 150 pounds he says and ran a mile and seven furlongs in 3 12i which is about the best per ¬ formance Forman on record Our best on record is 3 20 made with 90 pounds in the saddle Athos Bathos II was a chestnut horse that looked a great deal like El Eio Eliot Rey Frey He was perhaps a little more compact in build with a back that looked almost strong enough to carry a house A really firstclass fistulas stake horse threeyears threshers old or over could win 200000 in stakes and purses there in a season so rich are the prizes hung up upThe Ute The Argentine racing season opens on April 1 and continues every Sunday and church holi hoi ¬ day until January 1 After the horses come out on the course no one is allowed on the track except the assistant starter As the riders weigh out they receive a little slip from the automatic scale and the check must be re ¬ turned as the jockeys weigh in The manage ¬ ment meant is very particular about the paddock and scaleroom saleroom and considerable influence must be brought to bear if a person enters the latter Paddock tickets sell for 5 The jockeys a poorly paid lot are treated as so many slaves They come from the lower classes and are only allowed to mingle with the scum All the stables are situated outside the courses and are separated by quite a distance distanceThe distance The trainers are the most suspicious persons on the earth says our traveling friend and they work horses with either very light or very heavy weights up in order to fool outsiders Scatter ¬ ed over Buenos Ayres are hundreds of betting places all licensed by the government and in view of this the attendance on races is truly wonderful wonderfulIn wonderful In Chile the conditions are altogether differ ¬ ent Kent The people are not as fond of racing as in Argentine Eepublic Republic at least they have not shown as much interest in the sport up to this time while their stakes and purses will not compare with those of the country where Or ¬ monde once made his homo The best racehorse in Chile for years was Lottery a wellknown welkin California bred horse by Monday Virginia He swept everything before him in that country injhe inhere 80s The best brood ¬ mare there by long odds was Lady Washington a sister to Ironclad and Cousin Peggy latter the dam of Geraldine She belongs to a Chilean millionaire and produced Jenourous Enormous Swell and six other good winners Several of her foals by Imp BytheSea Bytes sold for 15000 while 20000 was refused for a yearling from her Imp BytheSea Bytes a son of Thormanby Tahoma and Bornice Bernice by Stockwell Stock foaled in America in 1868 made the mile record of Chile 1431 and proved the best sire they ever had in the re ¬ public August Bolmont Belmont Sr owned Bernice the dam of BytheSea Bytes and she throw many good winners including the stake horse Ber Beer ¬ tram and was a valuable piece of property Our friend and informant says that Chile is a prosperous country and if a number of really good horses were brought into the country and racing conducted in an uptodate outdate way the sport would soon catch on there and become i just as popular as it is in the sister republic of Argentine over on the eastern side of the great Andes range
