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OPENING ONE WEEK AWAY ALL PREPARATIONS COMPLETED FOR THE HIGH-CLASS NEW ORLEANS MEETING. Nominations to the New Years Handicap to Closo Tomorrow and Weights to Appear Thursday Many Riders Present. Hy J. L. Dempsey. Xew Orleans, La., December 23. One week from day after tomorrow, the gate:; of the Fair Grounds will be thrown open for the third annual winter race meeting of the Business Mens Racing Association, and all indications point to its being the best in the brief history of the local racing organization to date. There are more horses quartered at the Fair Grounds than in either of the two previous years and of far better class are this winters campaigners. The vanguard of the army of turfites continues to advance on the Crescent City, and it is safe to say that with a decent break in weather conditions, the gross attendance for the forty-four days will be as big as for the fifty-seven of last winter. So far have the preliminary arrangements for the meeting been completed that judge Joseph A. Murphy was able to take a weeks vacation at his home in St. Louis. With the assistance of racing secretary Joseph McLennan, associate judge lack Campbell and patrol judge Herman Conkling, things were rapidly whipped into shape and the meeting could begin tcmorrow if necessary. Xoniinations for the first stake, the Xew Years Handicap, which has an added value of ,500, will close tomorrow, and the stake will be run on the opening day of the meeting. Secretary McLennan said that the horses nominated to this event thus far would do credit to any race track, as the list contains staying horses of unusual merit. The race will be at one and one-sixteenth miles, and weights for it will be announced on next Thursday. In commenting on the races for two-year-olds in the south this winter, Judge Murphy told the owners and trainers that they will have forty-four days here and thirty-six at Hot Springs, making a total of eighty days in all in which -to race their two-year-olds. "If a two-year-old is of no account, a trainer ought to find it out in eighty days," he said, "and, if he does find it out, he is far better oft than if he has to carry him eighty days without being able to race him and discover his lack of ability to run; On the other hand, if a man pays even ,200 or ,500 for a yearling and he proves to be a useful animal, the owner or trainer should have little trouble in winning him out in eighty days;" New Rule Gratifies Horsemen. A rule which was changed at the solicitation of th;; horsemen wns that pertaining to the granting of the apprentice allowance. In former years only contract employers were allowed the apprentice allowance, but now, after a boy has ridden twenty races and three winners, he gets the usual five pounds off on outside mounts. This will give the good apprentices a better chance to develop into good class riders, as it will result in their getting many more mounts and naturally more experience. The schooling of the two-year-olds has been going on daily now for ten days and the youngsters are being sent away from the barrier by assistant starter Jim Osborne. On the whole, they are well behaved at the gate, but several of those trained by Al Weston have shown the most aptitude in starting. Beginning Tuesday, Osborne will take up the schooling of the older horses, either before or after lie finishes his daily task with the two-year-olds. Because of the announcement which was made that bad actors at the post will be harshly dealt with, the owners and trainers are going to give them all of the schooling possible to improve their habits and kee them in the good graces of starter A. B. Dade. Fifty-four jockeys, many of whom will get the first mounts of their career at the coming meeting, have been registered here, and it is expected that out of the large list of apprentice riders, a few star performers may be developed this winter. There will be more old riders here before the meeting opens, as some of them are resting at their homes or riding at one or the other of the winter tracks now. Many horsemen here predict that jockey AY. Crump, who is under contract to E. W. Moore and who was a star at several of the race meetings at Baltimore last fall, will give jockey-Frank Robinson a tussle for honors. Crump developed fast and he is in the best of condition, as lie is daily galloping horses at the Fair Grounds. Robinson is always in condition, as he is a boy of exemplary habits and he will ride for a stable with some high-class horses in it, that of R. L. Baker. Among the older riders here is Charles Borel. who has not been seen in the saddle much during the last year and a half. He will do the heavy riding for the Hillings and Johnson stable here, and he expects to be able to do lighter weight than when he was riding regular several years back. He is living at one of the local bath houses and is keeping fit by working the horses which trainer Charles Patterson has under his care. Agreeable Information from California. In a- letter to judge Murphy, C. W. Clark said that a bill for legislation to permit racing in California will be introduced soon after January 1, and he further said that lie had high hopes of its passage. This was a welcome bit of news to many of the breeders who have stables here, coming, as it did, on top of the announcement by judge Murphy that prominent people in Memphis, Tenn., were actively at work trying to get favorable legislation in the state of Tennessee for a revival of the "sport of kings" there. Among those well known in turf circles, who arc already on the scene here, are John Moore, Martin Demerest. Thomas Kinney, Ray Sciiercr, Harry Stoddard, Charles Waltring, John Murphy, Charles R. Ellison, Charles Walters, H. Hums. 1 John Isaacs. Al Sheftell, Ben Hollander. A. Gate-wood, J. Christie, John Devers, Whitcy Beck. Henry Hendricks, James McClelland, Fred Cook, Will Shay. Joe Cloher, Frank Hansel, George Vortman. Smash Welsh, John Lee, George Reed. Al Mueller, Robert L. Baker, Joe Murphy. Ed Trotter, Louis Epstein, nenry Rigler, Henry Dixon, Abe Jacobs, Michael Dcnneher, Ed Ehrmann, Phil McKim, Hnrry Shaw. Jess Armstrong, John Early, Ike Hackelberg. William Dewaine. E. Sippe, George Ajax, Walter Gumminson, John Sharker, Fred Pcsch, Tobe Tomkins, Perry Peoples, Dan Hall. Ham Kccne, Hart Dernham. Frank Leigh, M. Metsger, Dan Murphy, Bob Keating, Clint DeWitt, George McMitchell, Wood Hoffman, Denny Buford and John Daly. The latter i is one of Americas three-cushion billiard chani-i pions. i Practically all of the operators who held forth i in the palm garden the two previous years, will again be on hand this season and, in addition to them, there will be many others taking their first I whirl at the sport here. There is never any lack I of action in the palm garden, and for this reason ! the operators with reputations like to come here, i The stakeholder system of wagering is popular at ! the Fair Grounds and each year it becomes more simple. Those in authority are going over the list of applicants for stakeholders positions shortly. , There were several thousand more applications than there are positions, when judge Murphy first arrived here, and this list has been increased daily.
