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EXPERIMENTAL RACE MEETING NEAR NEW YORK yew York September Announcement of the rajng program for the fall meeting at Piping Rock was made today by Frank J Bryan racing secre ¬ tary of the Piping Hock Hacing Association The meeting will comprise three days Saturday October 12 Wednesday October 10 and Saturday October 1 While this is tjie first detailed announcement notices of some of the principal events to be de ¬ cided were sent one several weeks ago to the principal racing men of the country and the en ¬ tries received and promised indicate that the fall meeting at Piping Hock will provide far and away the most important racing which has been seen in the neighborhood of New York since the closing of the great rare tracks The association announces twentyone races of which eleven will be on the fiat and ten steeplechases steeplechasesThe The Piping Hock Kacing Association has been formed by 200 gentlemen who believe that the love of the racing of thoroughbreds for its own sake still exists in this community and that it is to this sentiment that racing in the neighlxirhood of New York must look for support supportThe The association yvas not formed to make money On the contrary not only will all the money the association receives be expended iu the promotion of racing at Piping Uock but several of the lead ¬ ers in the movement which resulted in the formation of the association have donated cups and purses Tlu value of the purses and cups which the asso ¬ ciation will IK able to offer for its three days meet ¬ ing will exceed 20000 This is by far the largest amount offered at any race meeting hereabouts dur ¬ ing the present year yearClarence Clarence II Mackay who has always been a generous supporter of racing and the breeding of thoroughbreds has revived the historic Harbor Hill Cup for a steeplechase for threeyearolds which was last raced for at Belmont Park The value will he the same as at Belmont Park JjttOOO Most if not all of the principal owners of thoroughbreds who have candidates for this cnp have been heard from and at least twenty entries have already been promised promisedHarry Harry Payne Whitney who following the ex ¬ ample of his father is deeply interested in the wel ¬ fare of racing in this country has taken an active interest in the formation of the associatlon arid has established the Wheatley Cup for bona fide hunters named after his country place Wheatley Hills HillsThomas Thomas F Ryan who since his retirement from active business has entered the racing field and now has a string of thoroughbreds has shown his inter ¬ est in the Piping Hock meeting by offering the Oak Ilidge Cup and purse of 1000 for a handicap steeplechase steeplechaseThe The veteran turfman II K Knapp whose inter ¬ est in racing has not lagged hiring the last three years of discouragement has offered the Oneck Plate and the Piping Hock Club upon whose grounds the meeting will Ix held has established the Piping Hock Clip for a steeplechase for bona fide hunters This clip is being designed by Tiffany TiffanyA A special effort is to be made to stimulate in ¬ terest in racing by army men and to that end there will he two military cups during the Piping Hock meeting one offered by C K G Billings for an army steeplechase and the revival of the Otlicers Army Service Cup established some years ago by the Saratoga Association 1 E Davis president of the association has offered the Heyday Plate for a private sweep ¬ stakes for twovearolds for which a dozen en ¬ tries have already been received receivedAmong Among other plates offered are the Brass Cnp offered by Herbert L Pratt for a Hat nice for hacks and hunters the Dosoris Plate offered by Percy Chubb for a race for qualified hunters and the Booger Red Galloway Championship Plate estab ¬ lished in honor of bis champion galloway Booger Red by Allan Pinkerton PinkertonThe The track at Piping Hock which was started three years ago and built under the eye of Thomas Hitchcock is now in the pink of condition It is considered one of the best turf tracks in the country if not the best There is a track 100 feet wide for fiat racing and ordinary steeplechas ing and for the hunter races the track is extended to a length of a mile and a half halfW W A Gorman the veteran superintendent of Belmont Park who built not only the Kelmont Park track but the Morris Park track has charge of the Piping Hock tracks and has been busy for two months putting on the finishing touches build ¬ ing the jumps and making other arrangements Mr Gorman says he has never had to do with a better track for the kind of racing that is con ¬ templated at Piping Rock ami in point of beauty and surroundings ho thinks it has no equal in this country countryThe The arrangements at Piping Rock more nearly re ¬ semble those at some of the French and English nice tracks more particularly Goodwood in Eng ¬ land than any other American race tracks As at Goodwood so at Piping Hock there is to be no attempt to attract a large crowd Tho price for tickets for the members enclosure which is the only enclosure for which tickets will IM sold has been fixed at 500 for gentlemen and 200 for ladies for each day While the usual grandstand for admission to which fifty cents or a dollar is charged is yvanting at Piping Rock there will l o a free field where the residents of Long Island will be welcome The high price for admission to the members enclosure is explained by the fact that It takes a great deal of money to suport a race meeting It is believed that there are those interested in racing who will gladly pay the prices fixed for tickets at Piping Hock when they know that all the money received is to he devoted to the cause of racing as a gentlemans sport sportThe The affairs of the Piping Uock Racing Association are in the hands of a board of directors which com prises some of the leaders of racing in this country Tho list is headed by Maj Henry T Allen of the United States Army who has been delegated by the President to look after the remount movement and the developmnt of the horse for military purposes Next on the list is August Belmont Other veterans on the board are Frank R and Thomas Hitchcock who for years have been identified with the best side of racing Clarence H Mackay and Edwin D Morgan Among the younger generation on the lionril are Harry Payne Whitney who has so success fullv carried on his fathers great racing stable Henrv W Bull who has been a leader In the United Hunts Racing Association Phillips B Thompson who with Fletcher Harper is responsible for the annual Cedarhurst meeting Bradley Martin Jr II C Plilpps W R Grace and Joseph E Davis DavisMr Mr Davis has been placed hy his associates at the head of the organization Although one of the youngest men on the board Mr Davis has during the past three years come rapidly to the front as a patron of racing He has not only been the owner of successful horses but rides his own horses He is an enthusiastic believer in the permanancy of rac ¬ ing and feels that the success of the Piping Hoc meeting will mean the beginning of a new era in racing in this country countryMr Mr Davis gave the following expression of his views regarding the present position of racin this country and its prospects prospectsHacing Hacing in New York prior to the enactment of the antibetting laws was conducted on a scale of uniiarjllelcd magnificence The plants of the groat racing associations particularly those at Belmont Park and Sheepshead Bay represented an enormous investment and their upkeep required a stupendous annual outlay Huge purses wen offered and in the keen rivalry which horse racing always develops rich men ambitious to secure these prizes bid against one another in buying the most promising colts so that race horses particularly those of high quality commanded exceedingly high prices The support of racing on this magnificent scale required an enormous attendance at the race tracks because after all the money to pay for the race tracks and their maintenance and to provide the great purses had to come from the public There can be no doubt that in order to attract these great crowds book making and betting of a more or less public char ¬ acter is necessary The result was that when open bookmaking was stopped by the legislature in this state the reduced crowds which attended the race tracks which were made up principally of those who loved racing for the sake of racing did not supply sufficient money to support racing under the old system Tho result has been that the great rac tracks have been closed and the most expensive and valuable horses have been sent to England and France because only there could their owners hope to win purses of sufficient magnitude to justify th prices they had paid for them The result has been that except at the various hunt meetings where the racing is necessarily confined to a limited scope there has been little opportunity for those who really enjoy racing as a sport to gratify this taste tasteMr Mr Davis proceeded to say that he believed there are still plenty of good race horses iu this country and that with tiiese horses properly assembled and under proper auspices there could still be racing which would furnish just as good sport and lust as much inspiration for the lovers of the thoroughbred horse rs the more magnificent racing under the old system Mr Davis pointed out that while the fow exceptional horses were doubtless being sent abroad the average quality of the horses assembled at Pip ¬ ing Uock would not be far below the average of the horses at Belmont Park four years ago and theie would be this advantage that the absence of the few exceptional horses would result in much wider coniiKitition than in the old days when in every Im ¬ portant race there were apt to bo one or two horses which outclassed all the others After all he con ¬ tends a sharply contested race between a goodly number of horses at a speed a few seconds below the record furnishes keener sport and better entj taimnent than a race at greater speed iu which one horse easily outdistances all the others othersMr Mr Davis said that the organizers of the hunt meetings like those held at Belmont Park Terminal by the United Hunts Association and the Meadow brook Hunts Association and the meeting at Cedar hurst were entitled to credit for keeping alive the interest in racing and that the greatly Increased patronage which those meetings had enjoyed during the past year or two was one of the clearest indica ¬ tions of a continued healthy interest iu racing lie pointed out however that those meetings confined as they are chielly to one class of horses ridden by gentlemen riders did not help support the real rac ¬ ing stables of the country whose owners although willing to make sacrifices for racing must neverthe ¬ less treat racing as a profession and secure some financial return lie and his associates hope thnt at Piping Hock they will be able to combine both kinds of racing racing by gentlemen who race pri ¬ marily for success and glory and racing by the old fashioned racing men who cannot afford to race without substantial purses The supporters of tliv Piping Hock meeting Mr Davis said were offering beautiful cups and plate for those who rode for glory and substantial purses for those who race for money as well a for glory He added that while the purses at Piping Hock were modest compared with those offered under the old system they an the largest which are being offered by any rae meeting of equal duration in the country this year He and his associates hope that with lilieral sup ¬ port even larger purses will be ottered at Piping Hock next year yearMr Mr Davis expressed the view that while occa ¬ sionally racing could look for financial support to generous donors like Messrs Mackay Whitney Pratt and Hyan the other donors of purses and cups at the Piping Hock meeting in the long run t lie purses which could be offered at race meetings would be measured by the public patronage Small attendance at race meetings said Mr Davis neces ¬ sarily means small purses and large attendance should mean large purses and that will certainly be the cast at Piping Hock because all of the income of the Association is to be devoted to the promotion of racing racingMr Mr Davis on being questioned on what was as ¬ sumed to be an embarrassing subject on bookmaking at the Piping Hock meeting said that this was not an embarrassing question so far as Piping Hock was concerned that while not sympathizing with the narrow views which have brought about the present legislation in this state on the subject of racing and letting he and his associates were a unit In their determination to see that the law was on forced at Piping Hock He believed that it could bo enforced and that when it was generally known that the Association seriously and earnestly intended to enforce it and that the proper public officers were on hand to see to its enforcement there would be no trouble with violations of the law lawWhen When asked whether he thought the announce ¬ ment that the law against bookmaking would be en ¬ forced would have any deterrent effect upon the at ¬ tendance at the meeting Mr Davis said he had no doubt that this announcement would keep some peo ¬ ple away from the meeting but ho thought that their places would be more than filled by people who loved the thoroughbred horse and who loved rac ¬ ing for its own sake and who would be attracted to a race meeting from which bookmaking would be absent At all events said Mr Davis we will have a chance at Piping Hock to determine whether rac ¬ ing under proper auspices can succeed without book making for no bookmaking will there be and there will IK racing of a high order under the best auspices on a firstclass track amid surroundings of exceptional charm and beauty My own view said Mr Davis is expressed when I say that I be ¬ lieve the race meeting at Piping Hock will be a brilliant and unqualified success and that the of ¬ ficers who aro on hand to enforce the law against bookmaking will have nothing to do but to enjoy the races
