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AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR JACKSONVILLE. Racing Will Be Conducted on Plane Designed to Create Demand for Indefinite Continuation. Detroit. Mich., August 3. F. J. Pons, president of the Florida Agricultural and Fair Association, who is here in connect ion with the Windsor meeting, is enthusiastic over the prospects for a successful meeting at Jacksonville next winter. Concerning the Jacksonville venture, Mr. Pons says: "The people of Florida are making ampler preparations to handle the large number of visitors that are sure to be attracted to Jacksonville by the races next winter. The new Seminole Hotel will lie completed by December 1, and It will be the largest and handsomest hotel in the state. There will be 700 rooms, half of them with baths. Other new structures are being hurried along to completion, while many of the older hotels are being remodeled and refurnished. Jacksonville, as those who have Visited that city before know, is a veritable city of hotels and hoarding houses, so there will be no lack of accommodations for all who may elect to spend the winter there. As to the racing, we will endeavor to see that the meeting at Moncreif Park is a high-class one in every particular. The plant was hurriedly constructed last spring, and we found that there was still lots of work to be done even after the meeting had come to a close. The first thing that Mr. Brown dhKwas to put a top dressing of clav on the track. This was done at a great expense, but the improvement that It made in the course warranted the outlay. Moncreif Park is now as fast and safe a track ns any in America, and I expect to see horses run as fast over It next winter as they did over the Los Angeles course last winter. Our new grandstand will be modern and up to date in all respects and will be of ample capacity. The eighteen new stables that are being erected will accommodate 000 horses, which means that we will be able to house in all over 1.000 horses. "Altogether there will be close to 1.200 stalls on the grounds. The transportation facilities are now excellent. There is now a double track to the entrance in the rear of the stand, and a new automobile road has been constructed by the county authorities from the city, through the park -boulevard, right to our grounds. All but two miles of the boulevard from Moucreif Springs to St. Augustine has been completed. This boulevard passes the immense hotel that was opened at Atlantic Beach this spring. This hostelry contains 1,400 rooms and is built right on the sea coast. I expect that many of our patrons will elect to live at some of the coast hotels. A person can motor from our track to the Atlantic Beach Hotel in thirty minutes, and it is little over one hour from St. Augustine. All of our automobile roads are built out of Kokena rock and are as smooth as asphalt and entirely free from "We have received applications from some of the biggest stables in the country for stable room, and we will make every effort to .please not only the public, but the horsemen as well. Our stake book will be but in a couple of weeks, and I aui sure that it will satlsfv the most exacting. It is the intention of our association to be liberal with the horsemen. Our idea is to establish racing on a firm basis in Jacksonville and to cater to the best element. By doing this we think that the people of Florida will insist that the sport be continued there Indehnitely.
