view raw text
GOSSIP OF THE TURF. The fall meeting of the Delmar Jockey Club will b be G c t e o g c g j, r t t fi j j j j j , . i : : : brought to a close on September 30, and the Fair Grounds will be reopened on October 1. The unsightly old judges stand at the Fair Grounds has been torn away and a new affair, patterned after the one at Delmar, erected in its place. The old stand at the Fair Grounds was too high and prevented spectators in the grandstand from obtaining a clear view of the races. It was.impos-sible to see any part of a start at the six furlong chute from the press stand, while the old judges stand was there. The new one is only one story high and will be in no ones way. Some famous racing officials passed judgment on running and light harness races in the old stand at the Fair Grounds. J. J. Carter, who lost his life in the Baldwin Hotel fire at San Francisco, rendered some famous turf decisions in the old stand. Col. M. Lewis Clark, who committed suicide at Memphis a few years ago, also held forth when at the height of his career as a racing official in the old Fair Grounds stand. J. J. Burke was paid a salary of 25 a day to officiate as presiding judge for forty-eight days in this stand several years ago. Capt. Billy Williamson, who served in Nicaragua with the famous raider, Walker; Capt. J. H. Bees, the well-known Mempnis steamboat man and racing official; J. A. Murphy, Charles Green, P. A. Brady, E. A. Maginn and other well-known racing turf officials worked in the old Fair Grounds stnd some time or other during their careers on the turf. St. Louis Republic. There is hardly a doubt," says the New York Herald, "that the location of several of the existing racing establishments will be very much changed, perhaps within a year. The sale of Morris Park, the most magnificent racing enterprise in America, is now an accomplished fact. While it is true that its new owners can put off for a time the final disposition of it as a race course the march of progress will soon demand that the theater of some of the greatest racing ever seen in the country will, ere long, be forced out of existence. "In the same situation is the course at Gravesend. Streets may at any time be run through that property, which already is hemmed in by residences. Within the last few days a large piece of land has been bought near Queens, L. I., and it is said by many well-informed persons that it was acquired by the Brooklyn Jockey Club with a view of being ready to locate whenever it shall be necessary to give up the present quarters. "The Coney Island Jockey Club is firmly intrenched in its present situation, while both Brighton Beach and Aqueduct are also safe ,for many years to come. "The general opinion is that the leading race courses of the future will be located farther out on Long Island, within a radius of twenty miles, and will be patterned more after the English courses."
