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ST. LOUIS NEW "TRACK. « A new track for St. Louis is assured. It •will be, completed in time, to hold a trotting • meeting: some time during the course of next autumn and next year the Western Jockey Club will be asked to assign it dates for the runners. Concerning it the St. Louis Republic of last Wednesday said: "At a meeting of the Union Jockey Club stockholders, held in the office of Judge Theodore Rassieur last evening, plans were discussed for the construction of the course and the question of having slight grades in the track was dwelt upon. It was suggested that the grade in the track be varied from the flat. "The fact that the Washington Park track in Chicago is said to have several distinct grades in its course suggested the innovation here. It was announced that the club would take the matter up seriously later on, and would study its advantages. "According to Robert J. Boylan, formerly of Chicago, who is connected with the new course, the engineers will be instructed as to the plans for the track in the near future. " Although not apparent to the eye, he said, Washington Park course at Chicago has five different grades in the course. It is slightly higher at some points of the back-stretch than at others, the surface being slightly undulating. This tendency is almost imperceptible, but careful surveying has shown the grades to be there. " Now the Washington Park track is a course on which worlds records have been made again and again. It is made of the same material as other Chicago courses, yet seems to be easier for many horses to run over. The deduction clearly is that the grades help the horses by relieving certain muscles, in turn, in the course of a race. " An instance may be found here, where the Kinloch tracks very apparent up-grade on the backstretch and down-grade on the homestretch has resulted in extremely fast time. A horse tired slightly by the pull up hill, finds a new set of muscles in play coming down the stretch. Steep grades will cause some horses to prop when coming downhill. But very slight variation seems to help the majority of runners. " This matter will be thoroughly worked out, and it may be that we will decide upon some slight deviation in the grade. If experiments prove that faster time results, we may incorporate grades in the track construction. "The announcement was made at the meeting that more than 00,000 had been subscribed. Theodore Rassieur presided. Among those present were M. Hanick, T. M. Gallagher, John L. Mesker, Harry Burger and Joseph Graham. It was announced that the surveying had been practically completed and that grading would be started at once."
