view raw text
TO WIND UP ITS AFFAIRS. REPORTED THAT WESTERN JOCKEY CLUB WILL DISBAND. Meeting of the Stewards To Be Held Next Monday Will Probably Be the Last History of the Organization. A meeting of the stewards of the Western .Tockey Club will lie held in Hie offices of that organization in Hie First National Bank Building next Monday ::fternooii, and it will probably be the last. There is a seemingly well grounded, though nncontirnied, 11 port that the existence of the Western Jockey Club is to terminate. The statement was first published in Xew York Wednesday morning and it is believed to have inanated from Angelo S. Cella, one of the six members of the Western Jockey Club, who is now residing in that city. Secretary Harvey T. Woodruff yesterday said that he had several days ago sent letters to the stewards advising them that the meeting for September would be held on the second Monday in the month instead of the first .Monday, 1 ceause it happened to be Labor Day, but that tin; notices had contained nothing concerning a disbanding of the club and that he had never heard the matter discussed and had no knowledge that such action was contemplated. Secretary .Martin Nuthanson of the Harlem .Tockov Club, who is one of the stewards of the Western Jockey Club, said he could not confirm the report and he did .not deny it. "The publication in Now York is the lirst 1 have heard of the matter," he Maid. "It is possible that some one in that citv has information that has not come to me. I caii tell more about the report after the meeting next Monday." President Kichard Fitzgerald is the only other member of the Western Jockey Club now in the oily and he could not be reached for an interview yesterday afternoon. Prior to the organization of the Western .Tockev Club on February 4. I!KI, all tracks In the west and south were under the control of the American Turf Congress, which had its otlices in Covington, K.v., witn James Howard, secretary of the Washington Park Club, as president and K. C. Hopper, then secretary of the Latonia Jockey Club, as secretary. The other ollicials wen- nearly all southerners. The administration of the affairs of the turf under this organization was not to the liking of the representatives of the Chicago tracks and in the winter of UXHMOOl it was decided bv Martin Nathan-son and others that an organization should he formed to supersede the American Turf Congress. In Tennessee, Memphis and Nashville were in a row over dates and in Kentucky there was a break between the representatives of the Latonia and Newport tracks. At St. I.ouls, Cella,. Adler and Tilles were building Deliuar Park and wanting to cut in on the time of the St. I.ouls Fair Association, of which Robert Anil was then president. The time was ripe for a move on the part of the Chicago tracks and it.was made. On February 4, l!Mil. Lawrence A. Young, president of the Washington Park Club, Robert Anil, piesident of the St. Louis Fair Association. George 5. Perkins, chief stockholder of the Latonia .Tockev Club, S. U. Montgomery, president of the New Memphis Jockey Club, C. S. Hush, president of the Crescent City Jockey Club. Richard Fitzgerald, of the Chicago Jockey Club, Martin Nathanson. secretary of the Harlem Jockey Club, and W. F. Schnlte. president of the Xew Louisville Jockey Club, met in the offices of Lawrence Young in the Ashland P.lock and formed the Western .Tockev Club, with Mr. Young chairman, Robert Anil, vice-chairman, .tymos Howard, treasurer and Harry Kuhl, secretary. In drafting the constitution, by-laws and rules, the tracks represented by the men who formed the row organization were designated as recognized tracks and it was made part of the by-laws that the stewards could, issue or revoke a license to any track situated in the territory over which it hail assumed jurisdiction. There was nothing left of the American Turf Congress save the Nashville, Little Rock. Newport and Detroit tracks. The representatives of these tracks met and proclaimed against the action of the organizers of tiie Western Jockey Club. Cella, Adler and Tilles came to their support and a war was on. As a lirst move. Cella. Adler and Tilles opened negotiations for the St. Louis Fair Grounds and bought the plant on March 22. 1001, four days after the rules of the Western Jockey Club had gone into effect at New Orleans, the meeting of the New Louisiana Jockey Club being the lirst held under the .new jurisdiction. Horsemen were divided in their allegiance, but the majority went to the younger and more powerful organization. Newport and Latonia clashed and Frank Fowler, who was then practically the sole owner of the Newport track, went broke. At St. Louis the Western Jockev Ciub had the Kinloch Pari; track to buck against the Fair Grounds and Delmar Park. At Louisville in the fall Cella. Adler and Tilles secured control of Douglas Park, then a trotting plant. In an effort to cripple the Churchill Downs people. It was a losing light and the old Turf Congress passed out an the winter came on. At the annual meeting of the Western Jockey Club in December 1!01, Cella. Adler and Tilles were given representation by the election of Angelo S. Cella and Valle Iteyburn as members and the former was elected a steward instead of Robert Anil who had dropped out with the sale of the St. Louis Fair Grounds. Things went smoothly for the organization until P. .T. Cnrinody came to the conclusion that the St. Louis field was rich enough for another track and decided to build Union Park. The Cellas did not want the opposition and when Mr. Carmody came with his application for dates he was told that he would have to build his track first. Union Park was built and another request was made for dates. Carmody was turned down, but he held his lirst meeting in 1!01 and cost his associates a lot of money. The lirst meeting at Kessex Park, Hot Springs, had been held in 1004 also and when in the fall of that year the building of Oaklawn was begun, then-was cause for further dissension. City Park track at New Orleans was also being constructed and the question of a division of the dates could not be Mettled to the satisfaction of everyone and so after the annual meeting of the Western Jockey Club In December 1904. the American Turf Association was organized, with F.dward Corrigan as the leader in the fight against the Western Jockey Club. The result was the long clashing of dates at New Orleans in 100." and the running of Union Park against Delmar Park in St. Louis. The passage of laws closing the tracks in Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas, the cessation of racing in Illinois, the creation of a State Racing Commission in Kentneky for the government of those tracks; the prohibition against racing at Detroit and the peace agreement entered into by the two tracks at New Orleans with the proviso that one license shall suilice, has impaired the usefulness of the Western Jockey Club and deprived it of practically all its revenue. Hence a disbanding of the organization should not be surprising. Following the disbanding of the Washington Park Club and the dismantling of the beautiful racing plant last year,- Lawrence A. Young resigned from the Western Jockey Club and James Howard ceased to be the treasurer. After George G. Perkins lost cut in the suit of W. K. Applegate for control of the stock of the Latonia Jockey Club, which was followed by the sale of his shares to the present owners, he represented no- track and his membership In the Western Jockey Club ceased last December. Kichard Fitzgerald, Martin Nathanson, S. R. Montgomery, C. S. Rush. Angelo S. Cella and Valle Iteyburn are now the only members. C. S. Hush, who is still identified with the Crescent City Jockey Club, though no longer in control, is the only one of the half dozen who represents a live track.
