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GOSSIP OF THE TUKF. The allotment of racing dates for next season may be made by the Jockey Club now at -any time. The application of the Sullivan-McCarren track to be run Tinder the auspices of the Metropolitan Jockey Club has been under consideration by the State Racing Commission and the Jockey Club stewards, it is t said, with every indication that it will receive a license and suitable dates for a spring u.nd fall meeting. Those who have been looking into the matter say that it will be comparatively easy to make room for the new track. Last season the time between April 15, the opening of the season, up to November 8, the closing day, was taken up by the various tracks in this state as follows: Aqueduct, twenty-four days; Westchester, thirty-four days; Gravesend, thirty-six days; Sheeps-head Bay, thirty-two days; Brighton, twenty-five days, and Saratoga, twenty-three days. Yet the season could have been extended to t November 15 under the provisions of the Percy-Gray law. "With these facts before him, a well-known racing official proceeded to show recently how easily the new Jamaica track can be provided for. Under the old regime the dates were oddly distributed. Gravesend had thirty-six days more than anybody, while Brighton, with stakes fully as rich as those run at Sheeps-head Bay and "Westchester, had one day more I than Apueduct. Westchester enjoyed a long I schedule and the public never tired of it, for I the Morris Park track is very popoular. The I Sheepshead Bay track, with thirty-two days, I liad the real cream, for that schedule in-I eluded four of the biggest turf events of the I year. The spring meeting opened with Sub-I urban day and closed with Fourth of July. I Then after a months let-up here, the Coney I Island Jockey Club had first chance at the I -eager public by reopening the fall campaign I with the Futurity, and later on having Labor I Day for an extra card. Saratoga, even with I twenty-three days, was a bit tiresome to the regulars who went up there, the consensus I of opinion being that an eighteen-day meet-H ing, or exactly three weeks, would have been I plenty. The Jockey Club can revise this sched-H trie in such a manner that the new Jamaica I track will be able to hold racing for at least H twenty-four days. It can be done by cutting H eight days off from the Gravesend allotment, H making twenty-eight days instead of thirty-H six; six days off the Westchester meeting; H thereby reducing it from thirty-four to twen-H ty-eight days; five days off the Sheepshead H Bay schedule, which would be reduced from H thirty-two to twenty-seven days, and a re-H duction of the Saratoga meeting from twenty-Hj three to eighteen days, a cut of five days. H This would equalize matters all around, and H the new track could follow the Aqueduct meeting. In fact, the changes on the circuit H would be Aqueduct to Jamaica, to West-shester, to Gravesend, to Sheepshead Bay, to Brighton, to Saratoga, to Sheepshead Bay, to Gravesend, to Westchester, to Jamaica, to Aqueduct In making the cuts referred to, I -would say that in fairness to Brighton and Aqueduct they should not be forced to fur-ther limit their present very limited meet-ings. New York Sun. The activity of the New Orleans stewards in getting after jockeys who have put up suspicious-looking rides appeals to the thou- BH sands of New Yorkers who attended the sport at the metropolitan tracks last season. There Hwere so many incompetent riders, to say the least, that race-goers clamored for action until the turf authorities took away the license of jockey Louis Smith for his alleged poor handling of Merry Acrobat in the Rancho del Paso Stakes at Morris Park. But this was the only penalty of the year handed out here for a bad ride, whereas at New Orleans the stewards have punished half a dozen boys already for work not calculated to create enthusiasm among the patrons of the sport. The sharpness of vision displayed by the New Orleans stewards which unearthed the Moabina scandal was particularly commendable. The stewards "smelled a rat" and lost no time in acting. They were fearless, and for that reason they succeeded in bagging a gang of swindlers who were operating on bold lines. It is just such activity in the stewards stand which convinces the racing public that its interests are protected against the unscrupulous and the crooked. Once the public loses faith in the steward or believes that they are not equal to the task of discriminating between right and wrong, the sport itself begins to suffer. The stewards who officiated at the local tracks last season were all men of integrity, in whom the public always evinced confidence, but there were times when they are accused of being rather lenient with glaring offenders. Before discipline can be meted out with justice there must be proof of guilt. The local stewards made numerous investigations, but they were unable to fix the blame where it belonged. New York Sun. Word was received by a New York turfman Monday that Gold Heels , the sensational winner of the Suburban and Brighton handicaps, and also the Brighton Cup, will be entered again for the big spring handicaps next season. Gold Heels was recently "fired," and the veterinary who is in charge of the great horse says that he is coming around and will probably be able to show all of his old form when he gets back to the races. But turfmen who are conversant with the injury sustained by Gold Heels do not believe that the son of The Bard will ever race again. When Gold Heels returned to the paddock after winning the Brighton Cup, he was not bleeding from a cut in the leg, as reported, but one of his ankles had simply collapsed. The trouble was so noticeable and so carefully inspected by horsemen who were on the spot that the impression was immediately formed that Gold Heels was done for. That was why, when he was put up at auction by Gen. F. C. McLewee and "Diamond Jim" Brady, nobody seemed to want the horse that Had been a public idol only a few months before. "I do not believe that Gold Heels will ever race again," said a prominent eastern trainer recently. "He may be able to trot, canter, gallop and work at top speed -without showing a semblance of his old trouble, but when he gets into a race therell be a different story to tell. He will not be able to stand the strain and will break down. That is the case with nine horses out of ten which have experienced just what Gold Heels has." An agent for eastern parties secured last Tuesday at Lexington, Ky a tea days option for a long price, reputed to be in the neighborhood of ,CC0, on J. B. Todds sensational yearling chestnut colt by Boanerges Crenan, by Kosciusko, she out of the noted race mare, Sallie R by Julian. This colt, with five weeks training, ran a quarter over the Kentucky Association track in 22 seconds I the best performance made by a colt of his age this season. St. Louis parties have also been dickering for the youngster. 5
