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RACINGS POPULARITY IN THE EAST. "Horse racing lias always been 11 favorite sport witli New Yorkers, going "tyiick to ,the tiiiie when they held the great trots at Union course, the Deer-foot track. Prospect. Hark Fair Grounds and other famous places, in the city, where Flora, Temple. Goldsmith Maid, American Girl, Constitution, Lady Tliorne and other noted trotters showed their speed," says a writer iu the New York Sun. From trotting attention was turned lb running horses" after Jerome Park was opened by Leonard Jerome, Pierre Lorillard and other weal thy, turf imm. Up to last year, when the llart-Agiif-w law prohibiting bookmaking went info effect, the tracks did a phenomenal business, with crowds ranging all the way from 10,000 to 40,000 persons. Ey.cu under the present adverse conditions there arc some good-sized crowds at the races nowadays, more than 16,000 persons being in attendance at Sheepshead Bay on- Labor day. while many more awaited the results of the various events in town. "There are six race tracks supported by the patronage q New Yorkers Sheepshead Baj. Gravesend, Belmont Park, Jamaica. Aqueduct and Empire City. This is going some with a stiff law against open betting.. It isnt.a new state of affairs, however, for turfmen have leeu up against anti-racetrack laws before,, always winning out in the end. You can never prevent a New Yorker from putting bis coin on a favorite race horse. Look up the his-, tory of race-track betting for thirty years back ami see if Im not dead right. "Maybe Philip J. Dw.ver knows more about local liorse racing than any other man in New York. He certainly ought to, for hes been following tlie game for ncarlj- forty years; Phil and his brother Mike, who died several years ago, started out with a string of- trotters, among them the famous Constitution; but they finally turned to the runners and won a great fortune with them. Mike was a plunger and lost practically all his wealth, but Phil. more conservative. Is said to be Worth nearly ,000,000. All the local race-track owners have made big money in y,ears gone by because of the remarkable sfiortlng proclivities Of New Yorkers, and some of these days they will be enjoying the same old prosperity."
