view raw text
FUTMUTY TO BE CONTINUED CONEY ISLAND JOCKEY CLUB TO OPEN NOTED , JUVENILE EVENT FOR 1017. Sale of Sheepshead Bay Track Not Yet Consummated, but Likely to Be in Near Future, Negotiations Being in Progress. Now York, November IS. Announcement will shortly 1h; made or" the opening of the Futurity of 1!17 liy the Coney Island Jockey Club. This most coveted of two-year-old stakes has been religiously continued by the club, although there lias been no racing over the Sheepshead Bay race course since 1910. The stake lias been decided at the Saratoga track for several years, and it is probable that It will continue to be a feature of that meeting, though it remains a stake of the Coney Island Jockey Club. For the running In 1017 there will be ,500 added, as of late. Incideiilivlly. it turns out that the story of the sale of the Sheepshead Bay track is a bit premature. Negotiations have been on for almost a year looking lo a purchase of the property, but there has been no sale. At tills time there seems to be a better chance for the prospective purchasers and the Coney Island Jockey Club to come together, but the sale has not been made. Secretary Schaumlterg saiil yesterday that the Coney Island Jockey Club had been in negotiation with some prospective purchasers for a considerable time, but that no transfer of the property bad been made. He said that the horsemen who were occupying stables at the course had not been ordered t. vacate, but that for some time the club had refused to let the stables for more than a month at a time. Leases for a longer term were refused for the reason that, a sale might be completed at any time for the property. The Coney Island Jockey Club was established in 1ST., and its first race meeting was conducted over the Graveseud track of the Brooklyn Jockey Club. The present Sheepshead Bay course was established in 18S0. Leonard W. Jerome was the first president of the club and the Suburban Handicap, its oldest stake of importance, was first run In 1SS4. when it was won by General Monroe. The Futurity bad its first running in 1SSS, when Proctor Knott VviT.t SisWator .and Galen, and the year following A the Lawrence Realization had its first running with salvator the winner. H There lias beeu no racing at the Coney Island Jockey Club course since its summer meeting of lltlO. That year the Futurity was run at Saratoga, vand each renewal of the stake since that time has r also been decided over the conrse at the Springs. It is entirely probable that the Sheepshead Bay track will be sold, although the sale has not yet been made, and it will mark the passing of one of the greatest pieces of racing property in the Tnited States. Ever since the closing of the gates il has been a wonderfully popular conditioning ground for trainers, and each winter there has been a large colony of thoroughbreds there waiting for what would be offered the following year. When racing nourished there was no club as liberal as the Coney Island Jockey Club, and no club enjoyed greater revenues. It was the favorite of all the tracks with the raciug public, and the throngs that crowded its spacious stands and lawns on big handicap days have never been equaled on any other course.
