Ascot Park Track, Daily Racing Form, 1903-11-03

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ASCOT PARK TRACK. A new track is always a matter of decided interest to turfmen and the following statement concerning the Los Angeles track and equipments will attract attention, it being a statement put forth, by the officials of the new jockey club. The officers and directors of the Los Angeles Jockey Club are as follows: President, Epes Randolph, Vice-President and General Manager of the Pacific Electric Railway Co.; ! Vice-President, John J. Fay, Jr., a retired capitalist; Treasurer, J. A. Muir, the General Manager of the Los Angeles Railway Co. ; Manager, J. W. Brooks, a horseman well known to the racing fraternity all over the country; other directors being: Wm. G. Kerckhoff, of the Kerckhoff-Cuzner Lumber Co.; J. M. Hale, one of our largest Dry Goods Merchants, and W. E. Dunn, Attorney for the Street Railway System and other large corporations. The stockholders are all wealthy and prominent citizens of Southern California, and intend that Ascot Park shall become the highest-class winter racing resort in America. The racing officials of the club will be Richard Dwyer and Jake Holtman, as alternating Starters; Mr. Ed. Cole, sporting editor of the New York Evening Telegram, associate judge; Mr. Edward Jasper, Secretary of the Worth Jockey Club, of Chicago, the Racing Secretary and Handlcapper, and the Presiding Judge will be one of two-well known Racing Judges from the Middle West, either of whom will be most acceptable to all horsemen. This racing plant will be ready to receive horses by Nov. 5, and will be completed by Dec. 1. It is situated about three miles from the center of the city of Los Angeles, just outside of the city limits and jurisdiction, and will be the most complete racing plant in the United States, with the exception of the great racecourses in the vicinity of New York City. The architect and contractor is Mr. A. M. Allen, the most successful racetrack builder in this country the man who built Hawthorne, Ingleside, Oakland, Tan-foran and many other fine courses, each an improvement over the other. The track is a regulation one-mile track, eighty-five feet wide, with the turns thrown up to an elevation of five feet on the outside. Inside of this course is a training track, fifty feet wide, and in the infield will be a beautiful steeplechase course. It is the intention of the club to make a feature of steeplechase and hurdle races, giving at least two each week. The grandstand is built of steel and wood, and will seat four thousand people; with up-to-date restaurant upon the ground floor and all other modern improvements. The betting ring will accomodate more than thirty bookmakers without any discomfort, while the secretarys office, jockey room and saddling paddock will be far ahead of anything in this part of the country. The stables, twenty-five in number, contain eight hundred stalls, and are situated directly opposite the grandstand in the midst of a magnificent English walnut grove. There is absolutely no choice of stalls, as at other courses, all comforts being provided for the horses, and late arrivals will find every accomodation. In connection with the stables, a number of private kitchens are being built to accomodate horsemen with large stabes, and also a large building to be used as a restaurant and boarding house for stable help, which is constructed in fine style, with two separate dining rooms, one seating about seventy-five persons, and the other thirty, which is intended for owners and trainers who may wish to board at the track. Surrounding the property are numerous fields of alfalfa at this time, where horsemen can secure green feed for their horses during the entire winter. For miles around there are good country roads of sandy loam, where nervous or fretful horses can be given plenty of exercise without ever being taken upon Continued on second page. ASCOT PARK TRACK. Continued from first page. the track. We have our own water plant two artesian wells of as fine water as may be found in the world. Fire plugs and water hydrants upon both sides of each stable. The transportation facilities will excel those of any racetrack in America, having six street railway lines from all parts of the city, running within a hundred and fifty feet of the main entrance to the grandstand. The track can be reached from any part of the city in eighteen to twenty minutes. The Pacific Electric Railway, said to be the best built and equipped suburban railway in America, will bring people from the numerous winter resorts near by, such as Pasadena, Long Beach, Riverside, Monrovia, Alhambra, Arcadia Baldwins Ranch and Whittier. There will be special cars leaving these suburban resorts direct for the races each day. The winter meeting will open Dec. 24 to continue for ninety days, during which time stakes and purses to the value of 50,000 will be given. All owners, trainers and jockeys who have licenses from any other Jockey Clubs will be extended the courtesies of this track at any time they may be visiting Southern California. The buttons of the Metropolitan Turf Club will be recognized at all times. The betting ring will be open to all reputable bookmakers at the rate of twenty dollars per race, and should the number meet our expectations, we will make the rate one hundred per day for six races. Horsemen shipping to this track by Wells-Fargo, and billed to Ascot Park, can be unloaded within six hundred feet of the stable yard. All arrangements will be made to transfer their equipments, etc., from the station into the grounds, free of charge. In conclusion, we wish to call the attention of horsemen to the fact that this is an ideal spot for wintering and training their horses, and to the many Derby winners which have been fitted and shipped from here to Chicago, only eighty hours away.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1903110301/drf1903110301_1_4
Local Identifier: drf1903110301_1_4
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800