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J i I , ; i i ■ 1 . , i • t 1 f l j , . . • ; , IMPRESSIONS OF OAKLAWN RACING. Decided Benefit to the Business of Hot Springs Brought by the Meeting. By J. L. Dempscy. Hot Springs, Ark.. March 25. Seldom has a race meeting been of as much direct benefit to so many people as the present .me at Oaklawn Park. A person would have to go a long way to find people more enthusiastic over racing than the residents of this city are at the present time. The merchants are unanimous in saying that the races have been like a "Christinas gift" to them so far as helping their business is concerned, and were it not for Oaklawn Park being open now. many bsrsemea and their racers would be idle until April 1 at the earliest. More than half of the meeting has pa ;s,.,I and each day more and mate Improvement can be noted iu every respect. The attendance daily is excellent and it is made up chiefly of a class of people who enjoy racing as a pastime. There are plenty of regulars on hand, too. and tin- local population is also wi 11 represented. The members of the Business Mens League an- loud in their praise of the management of the meeting, which thus far has moulted in its being such a big success. The last half will be better than the first half, and when the meeting winds up on April 4 the turfites will leave here witii nothing but good words to say for Hot Barings and its first meeting which the merchants sponsored. Judge J. P. Campbell is living Up to his declaration that he will not tolerate anything from any rider thai looks the leas; bit shady. His efforts to keep tie- spurt dean have been successful. In tin-first nine days of the meeting several jockeys were disciplined mi account of their rides and their suspensions made the other riders sit up and take noli,,-. H is not tin aim of Judge Campbell to take snap judgment on any Jockey and when he takes action he is sure that he has just grounds for doing so. Form has been better preserved here than at any meeting in a long while and even the cheapest class of horses are running fairly true. Although he is sixteen years old. Pudweis. r. by Buckmaster Missouri II.. is still able to hold his own in the cheap selling plater division, and his running at the local meeting has been a surprise to eer.one. In a recent race he hooked up with another horse at the lead of the stretch and the old horse raced head and head with him to the finish, he losing the verdict in the last stride. Lew Calm raced Budweiaer in his early racing days and it was he who identified him. so that he could start the first time at Oaklawn Park. Since the close of the Juarez and Havana tracks many riders have come here from both places and of them all the diminutive Olin Gentry seems the best. This lad made his debut at tile local track by getting Insurgent out of the maiden class anil he made an excellent ride on the horse. He handles himself like a real jockey and gameness is liis; chief asset. He rode with marked success at the Tijuana meeting, winning half of the card on several days. He is a brother of jockey Lloyd Gentry, who rides for J. P.. Bespcss and who is riding hole for Al Kirby. The latter is looking after the mounts of both of the brothers now. As has been the case at many tracks over which she has raced. Pan Zareta has bee is the star of the local meeting. She started twice in the first six iln.vs and won both starts, setting a new track record for a mile. 1:39. equalling the three-quarters mark. 1:12*0. In the three-quarters race she car-i ried 135 pounds, but instead of worrying her it just served to steady her. She will get a well-earned lest whan this me. ting cuds and it will be her first since she began her racing career. She will spend the summer at the Newman ranch in Sweetwater, Tex., and will come back to the races next fall. In the two-year old division at Oaklawn. Aunt Liz. owned by the El Palomar Stable, is easily the star and she demonstrated this in her first start when she galloped away from her opponents to win pulled up. The two-year-olds here are not an es-i peciaily high grade band, but to date the juvenile races have as a rule proved good contests, as the fields have been evenly matched. It is the inteu-I tion of judge Campbell to send the youngsters over the four and a half furlongs route before the meeting ends. The second raise in the purses, which will make the total daily distribution of purse money ,200. showed the horsemen that the management appreei-I ates their efforts to help make this meeting a sue-1 cess. Last week two of the purses daily were of 00 and this week four of them will be worth 00 each day. Ceneral manager Joseph E. Martin is leaving no stone unturned that will tend to help the owners, and they likewise are lending their best efforts to put the meeting on the best footing possible. Thus far there has been little activity on the part of the "halter men." The rule requiring a claimant to hao a horse in the race before he can claim one is believed to 1m- responsible for this. There have been a few horses which changed hands via the claiming route, but runups lave been few and far between. C. W. Gasser was the first owner to have a horse bid up. he losing Dryad in this manner. The A. C. Parretto stable has acquired several horses by runups and claims and it was this stable that got Dryad. Prominent people in every walk of life, state otlicials from all parts of the union, mayors of various cities, business men ami men prominent in other branches ..f sport besides racing, may be seen daily at Oaklawn Park, combining pleasure with their visit here for the healing waters. Many of them come from states where racing is dead or even unknown, but all seem to lie deriving the greatest pleasure out of their visit to the local course.
