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1 1 1 ; , - ; 1 - I NEW ORLEANS OPINION IS STRONG. . , Belief That the "Holding Company" Proposition Will J Revive Racing Next Winter. 1 t Local people iu New Orleans believe that the rac- lag tangle is cleared up. The Picayune declares so and is full or praise for President S. P. Heaslip. who 1: savs is now engaged In completing the details I of having the transfer of the New Orleans Jockey i Club and the Crescent City Jockey Club to a holding concern composed of eight or ten well-known business men of the Crescent City completed at Cincinnati and Louisville. For it meaus 100 dm of good, high-class racing there this winter. Representing local interests and a number of par- j ties who would constitute the holding company." Colonel neaslip went to Cincinnati last week and met the Vilas, Khinoek and others of the foreign turfmen who are interested In the local plants. Conferences held at Cincinnati with the turfmen re- i suited in flattering success for the "missionary." who. although discouraged by many wt o believed the Locke anti-race track gambling legislation put the eternal "kilHish" on good racing there, v..S i armed with an optimistic idea that it didnt. Its a sure thing that a meeting will be held ot at least 100 days in New Orleans. The complete details ot the transfer of the New Orleans .Tbekev Club and the Crescent City Jockey Club to a holding company composed of New Orleans men will be arranged ar a meeting to he held at Douglas Park, in Louisville, in a day or two. Louis Vila was not at the conference held at Cincinnati. : mil. as he controls the Fair Grounds plant, no action could be taken until lie arrived at Louisville and was present to complete the details of the transfer. The fame of New Orleans as the "winter capital of America" is aud has been great enough in the past, but the absence of one of the attractions, winter racing, might tend to lessen its popularity, it is believed. It was, therefore, to the interest of local business men to see to if that racing was continued to be offered tourists aud others coming here in the w inter. The widespread agitation of the alleged reformers in regard to the gambling evil resulted in the passage of a bill in the last legislature which was to prohibit betting on the races in any manner aud was intended to do away with the "sport of kings" entirely. But many of the most prominent attorneys ire of the opinion that the Ixicke measure Is defective aud will not stand. As the sums paid the racing associations hy persons privileged to make book have hitherto gone a long way toward supporting the racing game, naturally, the drastic bill, if not in any way defective, would have practically put the race people out of business. The tracks around New York bave had to depend entirely on money paid for bar and restaurant privileges and the gate receipts for their profits this summer, and those profits have been strictly nil. Many of the eastern tracks have operated at a loss, and the purses offered, in every case, had to lie cut down so much that the contention was not so keen as it might have been and many of the more prominent turfmen began looking about for other fields offering better pasture. Some shinned to Europe, some to South America and some sold out at a loss to themselves. The sweeping reforms inaugurated in many states-curbing or stopping racing, have been effective In causing many breeders in Kentucky, "the home of the thoroughbred," to sell out their farms and turn their attention to other pursuits. Indeed, it seemed that the days of the blooded horse were to become strictly limited. But. a number of local gentlemen have declared themselves determined to stand by their guns. C:fli-fornia, where the Emeryville and Santa Anita tracks run all winter, offering rich purses and allowing Iwoking on every race, has remained "iu the running" without a hint at reforming or mending its ways. Hundreds of people of means, anxious to escape the rigors of a northern climate and knowing of no other places near at hand but the south or southwest, decide on California, iu preference to New Orleans when the racing attraction is taken away from the Crescent City, and that is why a local holding company will take over the local tracks and operate them this winter, even though money is lost. Florida will offer an indifferent quality of racing this winter, it. is understood, and will attract a few erstwhile New Orleans visitors, but it is generally believed that a great number of Kentucky, Tennessee. Missouri and Texas turfmen will bring their strings of horses here this winter, and that the class of racing will lie about as high as last : year. City Park is heing thoroughly overhauled and groomed in preparation for the winter season, although the fate of the Fair Grounds will be a sad rme. according to report. Naturally, good build- ing lots can be found when old race courses are put out of commission and the surveyor and carpenters beitin getting in their work. The Texas meetings are now in progress and there will be a meeting at Havana, Cuba, of some pre- tension this winter. But. if the local promoters can manage it. there is every chance that the Ores- cent City will be the scene of some high-class racing during the winter.
