view raw text
LEXINGTON MEETING A GREAT SUCCESS. Lexington, Ivy., May C The racing here this spring has been of a high order and presages excellent sport at Louisville and Latonia. Some excellent! two-year-olds are showing up and as the season progresses there will be more of them. In a racing way tills spring period is certain to prove the greatest in the history of the turf in Kentucky. During the lirst four days here the weather was unite unfavorable, rain followed by a cold wave being the order, vet the- attendance has been remarkably good. The out-of-town patronage has been especially good, there being more visitors to the citv from a distance than probably in any other spring in twenty-five years. The meeting is to conclude on Thursday, giving everybody an opportunity to get to Louisville on Friday and be settled for the opening at the Downs on Saturday. With The Manager, King iBroomstick. Joe Knight, Tommie Thompson, Praetorian, Buckhorn, Catula, Bachelor Girl, Bonanza, Limousine, True Blue, Nancy Grater, Beautiful, Bobert and Curtain Call as probable starters, the Breeders Futurity, which is to be run here next Tuesday, is an especially attractive race and Will draw a large crowd to the Kentucky Association course. The present value of the race is ,115, with each starter to pay 5 additional. This will make it the richest stake of the spring in Kentucky, and it is coveted by every man who owns an eligible. The Manager won so convincingly Thursday that he is almost certain to go to the post favorite, irrespective of the performances of Tommie Thompson and Joe Knight In the south. King Broomstick will have some support. There is no stable of horses at this track with brighter prospects than that of Richard F. Carman. All of his horses are in excellent bodily condition, showing tlie advantages of a winters rest and good treatment, and they are practically all ready for the seasons work. Those at Louisville are said to compare with those here in appearance, but it is said that they are not quite as forward. It would seem that with such a string of horses as he possesses, and with the services of so good a rider as George Archibald, Mr. Carman should head the list of winning owners for the meetings at Lexington, Louisville and Latonia collectively or be very near the lop in the number of races won and the amount of money earned. The recent victory of Workbox here was a turning point in the luck of the veteran Green B. Morris. As Mr. Morris tells it himself he had made up his mind at the close of the Denver meeting last year to come to Kentucky witli his horses, race during the fall in this state, then drop down to Jacksonville for the winter and come back to Kentucky this spring. Instead he permitted himself to be persuaded to go to the intcr-mountain circuit and then to Oakland. His bad luck began before he got to Oakland, and there it grew worse. He left California and went to Juarez, where he says it was worse than at Oakland for him. His next move, minus about ,O00, was to Jacksonville, where he got TVorkbox ready with the expectation of recouping his losses, and wagered all but of his casli on hand on him. The foot note to the chart of that race on Washingtons Birthday says that Workbox was speedy, but tired as if short. Mr. Morris says that the trouble was not with Workbox at all, but with bis rider. The old turfman looked as if ho might have found the fountain, of youth when the son of Box was first at the finish of his race here last Saturday. In a story from Louisville discussing trainers of winners of the Kentucky Derby in the years gone br it was stated that Bud Allen, who trained King-nian. winner of the Derby in 1691, is dead. It was a mistake. This old colored man is alive and well. He . is living here in Lexington" in quiet ease, the fruit of Ins long labors on the turf. He visits the Kentucky Association track occasionally and enjoys talking of the horses of the old days.
