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STYLE OF HEWLETT BAY PARK RACING. Ky Ed Cole. New York, April 25. — As in many Kuropean countries, the New York racing season will be preceded by amateur or rather semi-amateur racing for a few days. Next Saturday will mark the beginning of the sport hereabouts with a meeting at Hewlett Say Park, where the Rockaway Hunting Club will stage half :f dozen races of semi-aniateur flavor, as there will be races for amateur riders as well as professionals. It will be a gathering of considerable social importance, for it will bring out the fashionable set of Long Island. It is a spring function in which all who are interested in the horse, am! many not particularly concerned in the thoroughbred, take part and is of us much importance in society circles as the opening of the opera season. Hewlett Ray lark has a natural race course of turf of such construction and maze-like formation that many times the horses and their riders are out of sight only to be seen again in a few moments circling out of the woods or coming from behind a hill. The grandstand is one of those temporary affairs that can lie shifted if necessary to any part of the grounds. The majority Of the visitors use their automobiles as a point of vantage while a race is being ruu. These vehicles are lined along the homestretches on both sides of the judges stand for at least half a mile and at times afford a better view of a race than is obtainable from the grandstand enclosure. Hundreds, however, prefer to stand ou the side of the hills and follow the progress of the horses on foot. While some individual wagers are made on these races speculation is less thought of than at any other meeting. The sinirt is the attraction and the rivalry that exists between the amateur owners and the riders is marked. It is a friendly rivalry, too. and congratulations are always forthcoming from the owners of a losing candidate, who immediately after a race will look around for the owner of the winner to congratulate him on his success and in many cases to enthuse over the fact that he iHissesses such a good horse. This year the Rockaway Hunting Club will have its banner meeting, judging from the great number of entries for the various events and the new aspirants for turf honors who will take part in the affairs. The club is thirty-five years old and has held many meetings of various kinds but it was not until 1914 that s|iecial efforts were made to hold a meeting of any magnitude. This was in the lean period of racing in this state and a helping hand meant much to the sitort and its future. Ilion that occasion there were but few horses to race. There was a decided improvement in 1915 and this year nearly one hundred entries will be carded for the two days of racing, the second session being scheduled for May !. The entries in the steeplechases will give some idea of what to expect in this line of sport at the larger tracks, there being an exceptionally long list of fencers billed for Hewlett Ray Park, many of them the property of owners whose names have never yet appeared on a racing program. Among the notables whose silks will be shown are Mrs. F. Ambrose Clark. Dr. E. R. Ackerman. Mr. Mortimer. L. Schiff. Mr. Leonard Jacob. Mr. Foxhall P. Peene. Mr. Roliert L. Jerry. Mr. M. L. Schwartz. Mr. J. Harper Ron-nell. Mr. A. Ludlow Kramer and Mr. Shelton E. Martin. It is also probable the Milltown Stable will have a starter or two in some of the races. The Milltown Stable is not a new one. On the contrary it has been in existence for many years and is the nom de course of a prominent Boston clergyman who for years has been a great advocate of tlie thoroughbred, not only for its racing proclivities, but for economic reasons and liecause of its prominence and usefulness in the animal world. It has frequently been asserted that racing needs new blood, both in horses and men. to bring out its best results. This year will see many additions to the ranks of the turfmen. Amateur racing has been the means of introducing quite a number of aspir ants for turf honors. They ure not all New Yorkers. Many " come from adjoining states and. while beginning their racing career with hunters and steepleeasers. it is more thau probable they will extend their activities with exjierience, as others have done. Among those who will be seen at Hewlett Bay Park is Mr. W. J. Clothier of Philadel-hia. Mr. Clothier is master of the hounds of the Pickering Hunt Club and an enthusiastic horseman. Then there are Mr. Jesse Williamson II.. also of Philadelphia. Mr. R. Hunter Duluny. a member of the old Virginia family of that name; also Mr. A. I*. Humphrey. Jr., of Virginia; Mr. F. H. Prince of Roston. father of Norman Prince, a member of the French aviator corps, and Mrs. Cecil Rrabazon. whose aspirations are to rival Mrs. F. Ambrose Clark. Mrs. Payne Whitney and other turf notables of the fairer sex. It is figured there are nearly fifty per cent, more jumping horses in training than heretofore. This insures large fields and incidentally greater competition. Steeplechasing is a branch of the sport that has not been earnestly encouraged by the more prominent owners in late years, but the increased values of stakes and purses now being offered will no doubt lie an incentive for many owners of flat racers to include some jumpers in their strings.
