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GOSSIP OF THE TURF Buffalo it is reported is to have a new race track The plans have been accepted and a stock company organized to conduct meetings Plans for the grand stand and other features of the track were prepared by George V Hankins of this city who built the old Garfield Park track and the present Harlem track Mr Hankins thinks he has introduced inno vations in the Buffalo track which will prove pop ¬ ular with horsemen and the public But it remains to be seen if this oftrepeated rumor has any more foundation than other announcements to the sanie effect Judge Burke speaking of jockey engagements has this to say in the Daily America of January 14 Many racing men are harassed throughout the racing season by continual disappointments regard ¬ ing jockeys A man who has no regular jockey under contract engages a rider for a certain race in the program sometimes a week in advance He goes ahead and works his coltand two days before the event everything looks rosy to him for his colt has shown him an excellent trial and a good ride will land him a race But on the afternoon before tfie ractr l y tho time entries appcrr the owneris approached by either the regular employer orthe agent of the employer and informed that he is awfully sorry but the fact is he has overlooked the engagement of his rider to Mr Soandso and I will have to beg off the engagement you made with my jockey It is however nearly certain that there was no prior engagement but the employer had become cognizant of a better trial by another horse in the race and he wanted to back that one Consequently an eleventh hour engagement is twisted into an arrangement of some days back and owner No 1 is left in the lurch either to get another good jockey sometimes impossible at that late hour or to scratch This is undoubtedly one of the smaller grievances connected with everyday racing Tho remedy ought to be simple All such engagements should at once be filed with the clerk of the scales so that when the stewards are called upon to decide disputed claims there could be no chance to be other than right in their decision The last attempt of the poolroom combine in New York City to ruin racing in that State because the Legislature had rendered the keeping of a pool ¬ room a precarious business came to naught Jan ¬ uary 14 when Judge Lacombe of the United States Circuit Court handed down a decision declaring the racing code constitutional The case at issue was that of Charles Bennett a former employe of The Allen the former poolroom keeper Bennett was indicted by the April Grand Jury for an alleged violation of the law governing betting on horse Braces The formal charge was that he handled bets for other people and not at one of the race tracks designated in the lav of 1895 It was decided by the poolroom men to take the case to the Federal courts in the hope that a decision holding that the law in question was unconstitutional would close the race tracks The poolroom men ascribe all their troubles to the owners of the tracks and the Jockey Club Judge Lacombe in his opinion declared the law to be perfectly in accordance with the amendment and said it deprived no one of his constitutional rights The judge cited instances where laws had been made to apply only to par ¬ ticular localities and cited the California Chinese law and that of some of the sourthern states re ¬ stricting the actions of negroes negroesJudge Judge Burke in discussing the chances of Nas ¬ turtium in England has this to say in the Daily America of January 3 Half a dozen of the ablest men on the American turf with whom I discussed tho chances of Nasturtium in the English Derby yesterday were almost unanimous that if the horse was a good one he ought to be heard from in the great race as the journey was no worse on him than on many others who had gone over at the same time of year and who had won Im banking on John Huggins judgment said one firstclass trainer If he saw fit to take the chance J am with him himIn In the Tichenor lot at Memphis is a bay twoyear old colt by Dr Rice Constance IV that has been highly tried Owner Tichenor says his trainer has a great opinion of this son of the Brooklyn Handi ¬ cap winner and the youngster will be given every chance to show his caliber as he is heavily engaged in valuable stakes stakesJockey Jockey Coburn is away in the lead of his fellows at New Orleans with thirtyseven wins to his credit Cochran ranks next with sixteen while Dominick Lyne and Otis are his closest followers The last named however is under suspension Gormley T OBrien Winkfield Dado and Blake are next with T Dean Landry and Dale leading the others Then follow Miller Robertson and L Smith The jockey ability there is moderate as many specu ¬ lators have found out to their cost and the sus ¬ pension of Harshberger Otis Ii Smith and Coch ¬ ran will reduce their ranks to a corresponding ex ¬ tent CocurauVsAiSp i5 i5on on howeeri5 for ii week
