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OLD: NEW. ORLEANS COURSE CRESCENT CITY JOCKEY CLUB PLANT HAS BEEN PRACTICALLY REBUILT. St Louis Union Park Steel Grandstand Re places Old Structure Modern and Well Appointed Establishment. New Orleans, La., Octolier 7. The Crescent Cily Jockey Clubs racing plant will be a revelation to visiting turfmen when they attend the opening, December ! next. Tlie entire establishment has liecn practically rebuilt. About 00,000 has been, siient on the old place. The work has been under the supervision of Alexander Brewster, one of the directors, and architect Long, since March 31, last, and is now more than three-quarters done. A daily average of 200 workmen has been used from the beginning. Tlie track, when opened, will be as thoroughly modern a racing plant as City Park. Tlie work is to be completed by Novemlier 10. None of the beautiful trees or surroundings has been disturbed. When it was decided to tear away tlie old grandstand and old paddock and offices, the entire steel framework of the Union Park racing plant at St. Louis was purchased and brought to New Orleans. This stand is now in place, is 300 feet long and its tiers of seats may easily be increased, although at present it will easily accommodate from 3,500 to 4,000 people. The tiers of seats are not nearly so steep as at the City Park track, and much room is left on the highest slope to permit; of ladies dressing rooms and the customary open space, which is nearly 200 feet long, and looks down on the liet-ting ring. The betting ring itself is double as large as the old ring and extremely convenient and commodious. The painting is rapidly being completed, all the carpenter work having been finished, and the work of installing fixtures ami building tlie immense concrete floor for the basement to the stand will take some weeks to accomplish, when the stand will be linished. The ceilings of both the basement and the grandstand proper are varnished pine, all steel work and trimmings being in blue. The rich-grained pine makes the color effect blue and gold, delicate and beautiful. Besides the thousands of seats in the gradually-rising tiers, there will be the usual boxes in front, all of the stand seats overlooking the track to perfection. The promenade at the top and rear of the grandstand is to be heated. The paddock, which is one of the biggest in the country, will be closed all around, f.nd none of the thoroughbreds will be allowed to catch cold this winter on account of wind blowing on them between races. It is 72 by 135 feet and contains twenty stalls. The oflice of the Crescent City Jockey Club will adjoin the paddock, being under the same roof. The hundreds of stables which flank the course have been thoroughly overhauled and put in excellent repair, new roofs having been given practically all of them. The Crescent City Club has also built a handsome new stable, containing nearly a hundred stalls, in which the ordinal y work horses and stock will be housed. The reconstruction of the track was begun at the same time with the stand, and hundreds of loads of dirt have been hauled from Gentilly Bond and Mar- igney Canal at considerable expense. Billy Myer, who has been general superintendent of the -track fop the past three years, lias made wonderful progress with the construction of the track, architect Longs plans calling for it to be moved fifteen feet further east and for the judges stand to be moved something like 300 feet further up tlie stretch eastward. The fact is the grandstand has been moved so far up the stretch It will give the Fair Grounds track one of the longest stretches in the country. Tlie track has also been considerably widened so that it now has a stretch eighty-live feet wide all the way and all turns and the remainder of tlie track are seventy feet wide.
