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FAMOUS OLD CLUBHOUSE TO GO. Center of Social Gaieties in Early Days of Churchill Downs Racing to Bo Demolished. Louisville, Ky., August 4. Superintendent Kcegan has finished the resoillng of the track at Churchill Downs. The soil was secured by cutting down a slight elevation in the center field over toward the half-mile ground, aud when that part of the enclosure is leveled it will be possible to stand anywhere on the ground or around tin; betting shed and see every foot of a race. Adjoining tlie track oliice of the club, beneath the grandstand, a room has been fitted up for starter Mars Cassidy and his assistants, where, in rainy weather, It will be possible for Mr. Cassidy and his helpers to keep dry clothing to wear when tlie days work is over and they have thrown off tlieir muddy boots and wet garments. In a few davs the work of wrecking the old clubhouse on the side of the track toward the half-mile post will be begun, and another building which will be removed is the old two-story kitchen at the Fourth street entrance to the grounds. The old clubhouse, in the early history of the track, was one of the most sightly spots within tlie enclosure. It was then surrounded with a beautiful hedge and williin this enclosure were magnificent beds of flowers and many rose bushes. The late Col. M. Lewis Clark at one time maintained the building as a residence, and so fond was he of the place that for a number of years lie had the back of each meeting program embellished: with a cut of the building. Among the famous men Colonel Clark entertained there were two presidents, It. B.. Hayes and U. S. Grant, tlie latter visiting the course at tlie end, in tiiis country, of his famous trip around the world, Samuel J." Tilden was another famous man who stood on the porch of the old structure, and two well-known Kentucky seuators, James B. Beck and J. C. S. Blackburn, were many times the guests of Colonel Clark in the old structure". On Derby day the big tally-ho coaches would roll up to the entrance gate of tho clubhouse and unload society folks on the big porch and It would be from that vantage point thev would watch the great iiorses struggle for Derby honors. It was the first real clubhouse blult on a track in the west or south, and Long Branch, Jerome Iark and Saratoga were the only courses to erect similar buildings before this .structure was put up. W. S. Hopkins has taken np three likely yearling fillies and has begun to give them tlieir lirst training at the Downs. One Is by the Futurity winner. Electioneer, another by the noted . Hermis. and another by Cederstrome. The latter is out of Hull Down, and tlie Hermis filly is out of Desaynno, the dam of Beidinoore. Tlie Cederstrome filly is a bay iii color and the other two are chestnuts. Mt1. Hopkins has also just assumed the care of a good-looking two-voar-old bav colt owned by Alf. V. Oldham. He is the lirst of the get of Col. Jim Douglas, and is out of Trixie C, by Iirate of Penzance. George Land lias begun training Royal Report with the view of winning tlie Kentucky Endurance Stakes, the four-mile race to bo run on the Kentucky circuit the coining fall. The Land quarters in the long shed now on the Fourth street side of Churchill Downs, are a model for comfort, cleanliness and convenience. It is tlie only stable at tlie Downs with each stall screened from top to bottom. Mr. Land is a great believer in keeping Hies and mosquitoes from annoying his horses. His stable is a haven for pets of every description, including a taine crow. W. II. Shelley, racing secretary of the Kentucky Association, will leave about August 25 for Lexington, to look after the coming fall meeting there. Mr. Shelley says the Kentucky Association hardly expected to land the Kentucky Endurance Stakes as an attraction for the coming meeting, as that track can, of course, not add as much money tosuch races as either Louisville or Latonia. He, however, is sure Lexington will have several long races on the program the coming fall as preliminaries to the big event.
