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THE CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN This weeks issue of the Spirit of the Times says saysA says A former member of the Spirit staff who has spent the winter in California under date of April 25 summarizes in the following pithy paragraphs the Pacific coast meeting The racing here this winter has been much better in every respect than heretofore The attendance has been unusually large all the time and the ring has averaged twentytwo twenty books every day and while Riley Grannan Granada and Pittsburg Pittsburgh Phil have not been here there has not been a dearth of big speculators such men as David Gideon and George Wheelock Headlock reinforced by a host of others tending to make business lively in the ring Of course there has been the usual talk of a scandalous character which ap ¬ pears to bo the normal condition of affairs at a long meeting In nearly every case however when the thing was sifted out it only developed a large crop of surmise and nothing else What is really needed here is a meeting of the book ¬ makers and heavy bettors such as was held at Pinkertons Pinkerton rooms in New York a couple of years ago and quite incidentally of course an address such as was delivered on the occasion referred to To my mind it would be found a perfect panacea for all the ills that find their inspiration in irresponsible and loose talk There were several good horses here and one or two which have pretensions to high class Altamax Alta belonging to Burns Water house was before ho broke down the best horse in California and a tip topper in any company He was fast could stay the route and carry weight Traverser Traverse who won the Derby is very fast but essentially a front runner He handles weight well and is likely to beat more horses than beat him He will soon be shipped east for his handicap engagements The Roman and Flour do Lis Lisa two good horses that have eastern handicap engagements would have an excellent chance at the weights could they be shipped and reach their destination all right Fleur Flour de Lis Lisa has not been doing any too well lately and it is quite possible she may remain in California Whether or not Mr Boots will send The Roman east I am not advised The plungers and bookmakers have not had a monopoly of the money distributed here dur dour ¬ ing King the season the general public having had a much larger finger in the pie than in former years In other words the greatest good to the greatestommber greatest has been the result and this is as it should be
