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THE NEW KENNING S. l 1 Washingtonians are greatly pleased with smash- i ing of local records brought about by the reconstruction of the Bennings track. Concerning the i new track a recent letter to Daily America says : : "The quick time made at Bennings since the I Autumnal meeting of the Washington Jockey Club i began last Monday shows that the boast of Engin- eer C. W. Leavitt, Jr., that Bennings course had at i last become one of the fastest on the eastern circuit i was not an idle one. Nearly every selling plater of i modorato capacity sent to the post fit does some- thing in a record-smashing line. i "Three-quarters of a mile covered in 1 :15 or better was a rare occurrence in the old days. One minute ! and fourteen seconds or bettor is common now. : The improvement in the going is due to a couree of . treatment such as Mr. Leavitt followed at Sara- i toga. He has made an entire new top surface of . clay, which is as springy as a rubber cushion. The clay gives from the feet of the horses and then springs back into place. Mr. Leavitt and the track superintendent are praying earnestly for a continuation of the dry weather. A heavy rain would work greater damage here than half a dozen showers would have caused at Saratoga last summer. Directly the clay is softened so thoroughly as to allow the feet of the horses running over it to break through the track will become a mire, over which it would be impossible for a Hindoo to cover a mile in batter than 1 :50 or 1 :51. "The cost of improving Bennings track was particularly heavy and the supporters of racing here sincerely hope that the Washington Jockey Club may have a fair chance to get back part of the money expended in the work. The expense was hoavy because it was necessary to practically construct an artificial track. Th9 natural Bennings soil could never have been converted into a faBt race track by methods of treatment that would make a fast track around New York. If rain should fall and it should become necessary to finish out, the meeting in heavy going,, it would not be likely that the services of Mr. Leavitt would be called into requisition again next year. President S. 8. Howland and his associates in the Washington racing management could hardly afford to do this years work over again. On the other hand if there be no rain the expense of keeping Bennings course up to the present standard will be comparatively insignificant. The heaviest cost in work of such character always occurs at the beginning. "The metropolitan and western horssmen supplying the horseflesh for the current meeting to a man are waiting with Mr. Leavitt for a continuation of the dry weather. Not one of them wants to return to old conditions. A few of the old-fashioned trainers grumbled at first about the hardness of Mr. Leavitts clay dressing, but they were in the minority and have since changed their minds. The majority always agreed that it was much easier on the joints and feot of their runners than the fetlock-deep sand through which they used to run. The quick time has been un important advertising feature for the mooting and aroused keener interest in Washington racing than was ever felt before. If the standard should not be kept up Bonnings will stp backward. No track can afford to set a mark and recede from it these days. "The excellent condition of the horses here as to legs and fett and joints is the best endorsement Mr. Leavitts idea could have. A few cripples, brought here on the verge of breakdown, have gone to the bow-wows, but none that was not lame before has fallen lame. Once in a while we hear of a horse turning his ankle in a hole or depression, but that cannot be helped. All now or renewed tracks have holes and uneven places in them. The Coney Island course at Sheepshead Bay was very unsafe after Superintendent Clark renewed the top surface of the backstretch and the upper turn two winters ago. Many smart trainers attributed the breaking down of Commando, Conroy and several other fir6t-class horses of 1901 to its unevennees. "There were many depressions in the main course at Saratoga last summer, but fewer than might reasonably have been expected. Mr. Leavitt had plenty of time to make the going safe and all the money he wanted. He used both to the best advantage. Mr. Leavitt can hardly be said to have made as good a job of Bennings course as he dil of Saratoga, but he has valid excuses. Tho physical difficulties were infinitely greater here and ho did not have so much money at his command. Washington has takon a wonderful brace as a racing center in tho last two or three years, but the Washington Jockey Clab conld hardly be expected to become so rich a corporation with ten years of uninterrupted prosperity as Saratoga has become in three. Washington folk do not support the races with the unanimity and liberality with which the people who run Saratogas track back the g ime at the Springs. Tlioy cannot. They have not tho money. "Whether Washington can over become so important and popular a racing center as Saratoga or not, there is, at least, a wonderful improvement. The horses running here just now are miles ahead as to class of anything seen since the old days before the gamo was considered the thing in New York. Thoro isj quite as much class as the Queens County Jcckoy Club had at Aqueduct, and tho l 1 i i : I i i i i i ! : . i . recently ended Aqueduct meeting was a record breakerlin that particular. Mr. Howland and his friends are dolighted. t "F.K.IHitchcock has decided that helwill not attempt to race his Bathampton CaBtalia two-year-old, called Castalian, hero. It was his intention originally to send Castalian along in the Consolation raco for two-year-olds. Tho colt did not do as well during the Aqueduct and Bennings meetings as his trainer, W. P. Burch, hopod, however, and the scheme had to be abandoned. Grey Friar cancelled his Consolation date by winning the Grand Union Hotel Stakes at Saratoga. If work counts for anything, Castalian is a first-class colt. When he and Grey Friar were both fit at Saratoga, he could outwork tho St. George gelding easily. Ho is a splendid looker, and Mr. Hitchcock expects him to give a first-rate account of himself next spring. None of tho three-year-old dates made for him by tho late Marcus Daly, his brooder, has been cancelled. Castalian is better off in the matter of three-year-old engagements than Grey Friar. The breeders of the St. George gelding had no idea about the great things Grey Friar was destined for when they bred him. Castalian haB no constitutional ailment. The trouble which prevented his getting to the post this year was entirely local. Neither Mr. Burch nor Mr. Hitchcock is apprehensive that it may do him permanent harm. They are of the opinion that his failure to get to tho post this year is destined to work to his advantage. Ho was not worked hard and and had plenty of time to develop. It would be to the advantage of racing if throe-fourths of our promising two-year-olds were kept from the post as Castalian has been. "In justice to Mr. Hitchcock it must be said that Castalian would not have got too much racing even if he had come to hand as quickly as his stable companion Sergeant did. Mr. Hitchcock has always been opposed to tho drumming of young horses in their first racing season. The amendment to the rules of racing introduced some two years ago, which had for its object the prevention of tho running of any twd-yoar-old stake of greater value than ,000 before the first of June, emanated from Mr. Hitchcock. He offered it in all sincerity, but tho time was not ripe and he was voted down. Mr. Hitchcock would have better success now. The racing associations, as well as the public, are gradually getting round to the European theory that rich stakes for two-year-olds are ruinous to the breed of horses. J. R. Keene, vice-chairman of Tho Jockey Club, has said that he is opposed to the running of a two-year-old in any kind of a race, pnrs9 or stake before tho first of August. With two such influential turfman as Mr. Koene and Mr. Hitchcock favoring this important reform, something highly beneficial to the game ought to be accomplished within a couple of years."
