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CURRENT RACING Yesterday was signalized in racing by the termi ¬ nation of the long winter meeting of the Crescent City Jockey Club and the long expected decision of the Crescent City Derby There is no doubt that in a financial way the meotiag has been eminently successful a fitting reward of more liberal offer ¬ ings in purses and stakes than had prevailed in the years preceding Except in the threeyearold division the class of horses running from day to day has been an improvement over former years also As to the Derby it cannot be said that it throws light on the important races to come for threeyearolds Lord Quex demonstrated himself the best of his age in training at New Orleans but that is not saying much in view of the trashy character of his opponents It is more than prob ¬ able that anyone of the first three in the California Derby could have won the Crescent City Derby yesterday and it is not probable that Lord Quex will cut much figure later on when required to meet horses of the caliber of Abe Frank and others of approximate merit meritMonday Monday the week long meeting of the New Louisiana Jockey Club will begin and it will be marked by some interesting racing the main feature of which will be the first four mile race run east of the Rocky mountains in many years It is fitting that the city which was the scene of the great races between Lexington and Lecompte and where Lexington set a time mark at four miles that stood intact for twenty years until lowered by Ms own grandson should revive this old time test of stamina and it is to be hoped the event will be renewed annually hereafter The end of this weeks sport will also be regarded as the end of what is deemed winter racing racingThe The Monday following March 21 will be the opening day of the meeting of the Arkansas Jockey Club at Little Rock While not of great import ¬ ance the Little Rock meeting is always of interest because of the glimpse of twoyearold form it gen ¬ erally affords many good ones having made their debut there and if S C Hildreth concludes to send McChesney over for a sharpening up gallop in the Arkansas Derby it will be invested with an unusual degree of importance this year It is always a pleasant and well conducted little meeting and quite a number of the horses that will be factors in the succeeding Memphis meeting will here make their first public appearance in the racing cam ¬ paign of 1902 1902The The California Jockey Clubs meetine at Oakland with continue on to April 26 For a long time past this influential racing organization has been in singularly ill luck in respect to weather rain and a resultant heavy track having militated against good racing for six weeks past Despite this draw ¬ back the racing has been good and the attendance satisfactory Up to March 6 over 307000 had been distributed among winning owners while up to March 8 the disbursements at New Orleans had amounted to some hundreds in excess of 206000 emphasizing the greater monetary importance of San Francisco racing At present the prospect is for betterweather and since the club has a number of important stakes yet to be disposed of this is an item of prime importance Yesterday the Thorn ¬ ton four miles were run in time that indicates a fast track by Monday and if no more rain falls the two yearolds that will come out to contend for the rich Western Produce Stakes next Saturday should score a fast record recordThis This is the most valuable stake of the California turf for twoyearolds It was taken over from the San Francisco Jockey Club by the California Jockey Club when President Thomas H Williams purchased Tauforan and Ingleside from Prince Poniatowski and his associates It had 136 original nominations at 5 each Sixtynine made the sec ¬ ond payment of 25 and eighteen the final payment of 75 These payments in addition to the starting fees and added money will bring the gross value to nearly if not quite 10000 and necessarily it is a prize keenly coveted by the owners of youngsters still eligible Of these Burns Waterhouse own four E J Baldwin three W OB Macdonough Elmwood Stock Farm A B Spreckels and Barney Schreiber two each and W B Sink the Montana Stable and Dr H E Rowell one each Its decision may reveal some such cracks as Cunard and Corri gan proved themselves last year
