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WILL REVIVE GLORIES OF THE PAST. Fall Racing in Kentucky This Year Promises to Surpass Sport of Olden Days. Louisville. Ky.. August 20. — Within the next few-days twenty-three western slakes will close for entry, ten her., live a I Lexington and eight at Lalonia. Even in the days when the late Col. M. Lewis Clark was the ruling spirit at Churchill 1 lew ns and F. C. Hopper reigned over Latonia affairs and Gen. .lames 1". Robinson guided the affairs of the Kentucky Association at Lexington, there were never as many as twenty-three stake events run off during a fail campaign in Kentucky. In days gone by the Lexington association would have from two to four stakes in the fall and six or seven was a fair average for tin Louisville anil Latonia meetings. So. in reviving the usages of other days, the New Louisville Jockey CiUb wiii give three or four more stakes than was customary in the palmy days of old at Churchill Downs. It was always Colonel Clarks idea that the fail meeting at Churchill Downs should carry as much prestige as the spring meeting, save for Kentucky Derby Day, which to racing in this state is what tae Fourth of July is to the nation. Of course, such a day can only come once a year, but his idea was to make the rest of the meeting ou a par with the best sport of the spring. Col. Malt J. Winn, manager of the New Louisville Jockey Club, while carrying out Colonel Clarks original notion, will this fail improve the program that made Louisville racing so successful in the seventies, the eighties and, early nineties. To go hack to the fall meetings of the past at Churchill Downs is to recall some of the greatest contests that adorn the pages of Kentucky turf history. It was in the golden days of autumn thai Ten Broeck made new records for three and four miles. When he went his famous four miles in 7:151 he lowered the record of Lexington. 7:1!H. by Dearly four seconds, and Lexingtons record had stood for nearly fifteen years. It was during the fall meeting at the Downs that the great Kentucky Stallion Stakes was decided. First. Irish King am. »,ils Johnson ran one-two in that rich stake in the colors of F. B. Harper. That race was one of the biggest betting events aver run at Churchill Downs. A a timber of great horses were among the starters, including the Illinois Derby winner. William Lakelands Buck tie, while the TeUnesseeane had in the noted mare. Moilie Walton. Tile selling on the lace had not progressed beyond one pool until n heavy-set man. bearing ti e weight n fully sevent ..ears, entered the poolroom and wished to purchas. Harpers entry. The sharpshooters, seeing what they termed, a "fresh fish." began bidding more keenly than ever for Dock tic and Moilie Walton, but in everv pool sold, regardless of how high they went, old man woolley took the Harper entry. The denizens of the place looked upon the old man as out of his mind, but when the selling was over he produced a big bankroll, paid tor his tickets and strode out of the room. He won the entire pool box. and he won it easily, for not only did the Harper entry run first, but it also finished second; It was also in this race that Lee Christy instituted his fatuous suit against Harper for the value of the stakes, close lo S7.O00. Christy and William Walker, who developed the great tilly. Round the World, this season, both testified that in Walkers presence Harper had presented Irish King to Christy, witli the understanding that he was in return t make no charges for his training of iils Johnson. Harper, being angrv because Irish King and not Gils Johnson had won. while acknowledging that lie had given the colt to Christy, still claimed his engage ments. and that he was entitled to the winnings ot the race. This caused a split between Harper and Christy and. through the courts the colored trainei got possession of Irish King. Ultimately the case was compromised. Few better race horses have ever trod the turf at Churchill Down- than Irish King. He was injure,! as a .M arling and was not raced as a two year-old. He bad many mishaps in the early part of ids three-year-old form, hill in the fall he was well-nigh invincible. He ran many races in the east as a four-year-old and scored several brilliant victories, bin unluckily for Christy and the man t" whom he sold him. he died v. -ting. :ils Johnson, on the other hand, lived out a ripe old age. though he never wa-as good a performer on the turf as Irish King, .tils Johnson later sired the noted Jacobin, over whose performance in the Kentucky Derby a scandal nearly grew, it being openly charged after he had won the Clark Handicap that lie hid been placed in that race for the benefit of Montrose. That the wise people were wrong was proven biter on in the year, as Mont lose beat the son of Gils Johnson every time he met him thai season. The Stallion Stakes won by Irish King was not the only great renewal of that race in the fall of the year heic. as the mighty Bramble, brought from the east by Dwyer Brothers, romped away with the race, defeating brilliant opposition. The showing of Wat-field behind Bramble in the Stallion Stakes caused the Brooklyn turfmen to become possessed of about the best selling plater they ever owned. Knowing so well the ability of Bramble as a race horse, and seeing a green COM finish close behind him at the end of a mile and three-quarter race, they reasoned that some day that horse might beat the son of Bonnie Scotland, and so to be on the sale side, they bought Warfield. Wartield belonged partly to one of the most eccentric m n who over mend a horse. He was a blacksmith at Lexington named Dick Jhckson. One of the greatest three-year old races run here in the fall of the year was when Jim Gray defeated Sir Joseph in one of the last Stallion Stakes. James Murphy, a Chicago Hoard of Trade man. had won an enormous bet on a horse railed King Bobbin here in a race at 1" to 1. and he let the money stand with Bush fit Bride and bet it in a chunk back on Sir Joseph, Which was trained by "Snip" Donovan, who. in later rears, earned fame by training the great Tenny. The skilled hands of Isaac Murphy lost for the white Murphy a fortune, as his brilliant manipulation of the reins on Jim Gray beat Sir Joseph. In actual performances in after years Jim Gray proved a better horse than Sir Joseph, but that particular day Donovan had the latter in perfect condition. So the history of the fall meetings at Churchill Downs is replete with interesting features, and it is not alone the races in the spring that will live In the memory of the old-timers who love to regal! the ss rt of other days. Charles F. Grainger, president of the New Louisville Jockey Club, who is sojourning at Saratoga, writes Secretary Lyman H. Davis :is follows: "The fall race meeting at Churchill Downs will "mp lest ion a hi v be one of the greatest ever held there. ] know this because of the class of horses that will be shipped Inst New York to Louisville. Crowds of prominent devotees of the fur f will for this reason be attracted and. wilh the superior class of racing. I do not hesitate to say that Hie spun will eclipse anything of the kind ever held in the middle west this fall." Manager Winn. Who Ifl booking the eastern horses for the Kentucky campaign, and later at Juarez, will arrive in Louisville September 2. and from that time until the opening day. October 1. he will be exceedingly busy getting everything in shape.
