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MARYLAND RACING PROSPECTS. Racing Associations Oppose Opening of New Track — Fear Reform Element. By J. H. Anderson. Baltimore. Mil.. January 3. — "Speed the parting welcome the coming guest." is the slogan of the Maryland horsemen just now. With the most successful season in the racing annals of the state only a few weeks behind them turfmen are eagerly looking forward to the advent of 1917 with the prospect that the new year will bring forth even greater things than the old. Already the various racing associations have put in their claims fur the 1917 dates and. while tin schedule has not as yet been definitely approved by tin- Jockey Club, it is expected that it will be about the same as that of last year. Howie, the youngest of the Maryland tracks which takes the place of Banning and Norfolk i: the eastern circuit, will open the season, taking the dates April 2-14; then comes Havre de Grace April Ki-30. and then Pimlico. May 1-17. It is rumored that the season in New York may open earlier than usual, and that Aqueduct and Jamaica may race in opposition to Havre de Graet :.nl Pimlico. Maryland people, however, are not borrowing much trouble on that account, and it It bettered that with the present purses and the sys terns of betting, opposition will hurt New York more than Maryland. It is possible that there may be a newconni ; sking for dates the coming spring on the Mary land circuit. A group, headed by Al Harford .ml Charles Smith of Chicago, is trying to break into the field. They have bought a piece of . round on the Pennsylvania road at Bengies, in I.altimore County, between Baltimore and Hnvn de Grace, and have started to build a mile track with a view to having it ready for the sprint racing. New Track to Be Fought. The new enterprise, however, has struck a snap ir. the Baltimore County Racing Commission, which lias refused to grant any more dates on the grouni that there is already enough racing in the county Herford and his associates will take an appeal to the courts and carry the matter as far at possible. This phase of the matter has alrevdy been passer upon by the courts of the state, which upheld the Harford County Pacing Commission, when it refused to grant dates to another track after llavr de Grace had been opened. The Bssnrlta peoph are hopeful, however, and it may be that rasa will have to be made for them in the spring -c hcilule. The opening of another track in Maryland is arousing bitter opposition from the old associations, which fear that the reform element max put everybody out of business if tracks multiply in the state. Many improvements are being planned for the Maryland tracks next spring, and the owners art I Btting back some of their best seasons earnings iito their plants. Bowie will rebuild all the stabling, burned dining the last meeting, and, in : ddition. will put up 100 more stalls. Havre de .race also has contracted for 100 new stalls, so that when everything is complete, there will b accommodations for 900 horses. The betting ring will be enlarged and important changes will hi made in the arrangement of the mutuel plant. Bowie is an ideal spot for wintering horses and. when its advantages become better known, will doubtless have as much patronage as now falls t the lot of Beaming. About fifty horses are now at the track, including the strings of Walter House, James Arthur, George Sherman. W. H. Vivell, Clyde freeman and Richard Ponding. Many Horses at Benning. Nearly two hundred horses are at Benning. Mr Burch has twelve: Albert Simons, eleven; K. I*. Carman, twelve; Mike Daly, fifteen, and Dr. Tyrce. nineteen, at the Washington course. The Tyree ■table will be in charge of its old trainer. Dr. Larrick. next season. The string will rhaw some liki ly two year-olds next spring, among them the crack Sweep colt, which worked a quarter mile over the Benning track in his fall trials in twenty -three seconds. This colt is admittedly the In st youngster at Benning. W. S. Kilmer is wintering a string of thirty at Laurel. About the most salient feature of the season just passed in Maryland, was the wonderful patronage which the pari-mutuels received. Havre de Grace averaged daily 35. 000 at the fall meeting: Laurel. 14,000; Pimlico. : 0.000. and Bowie. 85,000. With a profit of close to seven per cent, it is no wonder that the associations waxed fat and it is less wonder that outsiders an- trying to break into the Maryland field. William Jennings, son of the late William Jennings of Glennsore fame, will have charge of the stable of c. II. Garrison, who will race in the tame of the Calumet Stable. Mr. Jennings has just returned from Kentucky, where he bought tour yearlings for his employer. These he will winter at his Mount Washington farm near Baltimore. .lames Butwell. who has signed up to ride for August Belmont, is wintering in Baltimore.
