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LITTLE ROCK PROSPECTS. A letter from Little Rock published in the Louisville Courier-Journal of Sunday says: "The new owners of Clifton Park race course will rejuvenate the premises and put things in fine racing condition by the time its spring races open here, April 1. About forty horses are now at the track. "The Courier-Journal correspondent took a peep at the track to-day and things look rusty at this time. Old Uncle Jim Gray of Mary-field, Mo is chief cook and bottle-washer at the park just now. There are six stables now here. P. J. Miles has a string of ten, Branch Martin of Little Rock has six, William Cassidy of St. Louis has four, F. Bellows of Marysville, Mo., has six, Will Kain of St. Louis has four, Lucas of St. Louis is training three, and Gray is chaperoning ten two-year-olds. None of the horses at the track have records, unless it be Banquo II. of Miles bunch, who ran a mile last spring in about 1:40. Miles also owns Marito another promising horse that recorded pretty fast time last spring. "No work has been done by the owners so far, as the track has been too heavy from the frequent rains of the past two months. "In speaking of turf matters today Mr. Gray said: "Umbrella" McGuigan, who, you remember, threw up the sponge and quit the track last summer, notified me yesterday by letter from Hot Springs that he would be here Monday with a bunch of ten two-year-olds, and requesting that stable room be reserved for him. Mr. McGuigan knew he couldnt quit horse racing. He knows as well as I do, or at least thinks he does, that he is going to astonish the racing world at every place he enters with some phenomenal colt, and, thinking over the matter, forces him to try the experiment, and will continue to repeat the same dose. No, as long as Mc lives, his familiar figure will be seen on the racecourse. " Jim Cushing of Minneapolis, says he wont be here this year, because his cabin was burned down last Thanksgiving day. He wrote me he wouldnt come unless the association would move the clubhouse on the site of his former building, thus enabling him to close his eyes and dream of fat purses he never won. I look for him to unload here in about two weeks. Headley will also get in within the next two weeks as will four or five other well known stables. "The winds of the past few months have razed the betting shed at the track to the ground; but it is the purpose of the new owners to construct a new grandstand and a poolroom commensurate with the dignity of a first class track, will, of course, be included. No derby will be run at" the forthcoming meeting, three big stake races, it is understood, being preferable. " Cap, Tilles, president of the association, says the opening of the southern circuit here this year will equal any of the races on the circuit during the season. There will be as many noted horses hero as ever."
