view raw text
MORE RACING PROBABLE IN THE WEST. Prospects Excellent for Meetings in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. By J. R. Jeff cry. San Diego. On] . Jan. 7. — Regardle-ss of the outcome of the movement for the restoration of racing in California, it se-enis likely that the present year Al be- marke-d by much more racing in the western ee tion of the United States than has been the ease for several years. Horsemen racing at Tijuana are awaiting with much interest the- ex-pecte-d verification by official announcement of reports that a circuit Is in prospect for summer racing that will include Phoenix, Ariz.: Denver. Colo.: Colorado Sprngs. Colo.; Salt Lake City. Itah: Alan. Idaho, and Reno. New Several of these localities arete formerly good racing points, but adverse legislation wiped the- sport out. It is now represented that conditions are favorable for a resumption of racing at most, if not all of the points named. . decision has just been rendered by the Supreme Court of Arizona holding that pari-mutue-1 betting is not in violation of the laws of that state-. Heme it will be practicable to attempt a meeting at 1 hoe-nix with the pari-miitue-ls as the medium for speculation. It is probable that such a ine-eting will imniediate-ly follow the close of the Tijuana se ason. From there, if the conditions are favorable, the horse-men will move on to Denver, for a meeting at Overland Park. The miitiu Is are popular in the Colorado me-tiopolis and will be employed if the meeting materializes, as also "at Coloraelo Springs. where it is planned to hold a brief meeting in midsummer. Conditions at Salt Lake. The Salt Lake situation, it is understood, is less promising than the rest of the proposed circuit. Hopes for a meeting there are- baaed on the supposed friendliness of Governor-Elect Bamburge-r. who was one of the chief factors in the II ■ nt I ship of the Lagoon track, which passed out of existence sine- racing was abandoned there several ye-ars ago. In the event of the sport being re-established at Salt Lake, it will be necessary to construct a ne-w track for it. It is held that the oral system of betting is permissible under the Idaho law and the Alan track may be- reopened for a late summer rice-ting if that vie-w of the- matter is properly established. The horsemen here are looking to W. W. Finn, who has been actively engaged in the promotion of racing in the Inter-Mountain country m recent years, for information a* to the prospects for the- formation of such a circuit as has been outlined. At the present time he has no definite information to disseminate, but there are good reasons for believing that the circuit will materialize in part, if not as a whole. Mr. Finn is among those who are enjoying the- racing at Tijuana, as is Al T. l»ol son. who has been prominently Identified with western racing in late years in various official capacities and who probably will 1m- similarly con lected in the event that the circuit is formed. Shilling Has Given Up Hope. Former jockey Carroll H. Shilling, who is among those spending the winter here, has given up all hope of having his riding license restored by the Jockey Club. He has been convinced for some time that there was no chance that the stewards of the Jockey Club would modify their attitude towards him. He has not ridden since 1912. when he was suspended for rough riding. The recent attempts to obtain a reopening of his case were- not initiated by him, but by some of his friends in the east who had more faith in their outcome than he himself had. As a result of his conviction that his ruling days are- over, he does not c-ve-n attempt to keep himself in anything like riding condition. He now weighs UB pounds and seldom attempts to exercise a horse. lie- has a number of use-ful horses in training here and means to devote himself from now on to the building up of a useful racing establishment. The sprinter Conning Towe-r la the mainstay of the string he has in training here. Conning Tower has won many a race for him in tl.e past two years, but has been on the shelf for . time with an ailing leg. He is now in raring condition once more-, however. Shilling has some-half dozen horses turned out in Kentucky, including a two-year-old for which he has refused ,000 ..lid from wheh he expects great things. He plans to leave for the east early in February to take ties.- horses up for a spring and summer campaign on tl.e Ke-ntueky tracks. Shilling, it is generally ceiiie e-d el. takes rank with the great jockeys of the Aineri.a u turf, and is admittedly the best of the riders of r c -cut years, lb- was wise enough when in the zenith of his career in the saddle, to so Invest part of his princely earnings that he is now reaping the- benefit, in contrast to so many successful jockeys who had not the forethought to provide for the inevitable day of their retirement form the meddle. Me means to give his brother, Hugh, who has failed to make as good a showing here as was expected, the fullest oppartmdty to make- good upon his own horses in Kentucky this season. He has the utmost confidence that tin- lad will fully repay him by developing into a right good rider. Slippery Elm to Come East. Slippery Elm. now entering upon his four-year old form, is probably the beat horse shown here this winter. He- is a bay gelding by Baiinejckburn — Sehw albe- and was bred by Barney Sc -hreiber. Tom Hatfield brought him west and it was from that turfman that his present owner. George- W. Wingfield, proprietor of the Nevada Stock Farm, acquired this good gelding. Slippery Elm can both sprint and stay and is thoroughly at home in muddy going as we-H as on a fast track, ■■stem racegoers will undoubtedly be give-n a chance to sec him in action during the coming summer, for Early Wright, trainer for Mr. Wingfield. will take-a division of the Nevada mining magnates stable east for a campaign. The details of this campaign have- not yet been derided upon, but it is alto gather like-ly that Kentucky will be- the objective petot in the early part of the season, with the possibility that the campaign will be extenih-cl to the New York tracks later in the year. Mr. Wingfield will have- other worthy representatives to carry his colors in the- east and it may be- confidently predicted right here and now, that his colors will be much more- conspicuous than when his stable visited Kentucky last year. Mr. Wingfield, in ad e.ition to having shown the best all-around rac-er he-re this se-ason, probably has the- champion thre-e-ye-ar old of the far west in Square- Se-t. This fine-looking son of Duke of Ormonde and Dora I. met his first defeat he-re when Maude Bacon led him lime by a wide margin over a muddy track on Christmas day, after having been beaten by him on a fast track. He- plainly evinced a dislike for the muddy going, sprawling about badly in the early racing, and it was evident that only his class enabled Boseoe- Troxler to ride- him into second place at the finish. The exertion was so great that the colt pulled up decidedly sore and it is to be hoped that there will be- no permanent ill effects from the experiment of trying him out in the mud. It was the first time that the colt had been asked to run in such going. Say a Popular Race Horse. When Say. the five-year old bay gelding ley Sais —The Rose of the- Kancho. won the Coyote- Weill selling handicap on December 27 with 9 to 1 quoted against his chances, it marked his twolfA victory of the year. He has be-on a useful racifl tool for Stuart Polk, for in addition to his twefW firsts, he was placed in twelve more of his thirty starts, b.ing unplaced in only six instances during the year. He is one of the- idols of the local racc-goiag public on Seconal of the- consistency with which he races at all times. C. C. Mc-Caffe-rty. who achieved fame by winning the Burns Handicap at Oakland with Dr. Le-ggo in ■998, and who has been out of touch with racing tor some- time, is among the recent arrivals he-re. and has become a daily visitor at Tiiuani. It would not be surprising to find him back in racing as an owne-r in the ne-ar future. Clarence Buxton, an astute young traine-r who is racing old Broom. Haatn, Dervish and other banes here, has intiodue-ed to the racing public a prossis-ing apprentice- in R. Crooks, who rod.- his employers Sasin into second place behind Slippery Elm upon the- occasion of his first appearance- in tie- saddle-. Al Morrissey. formerly secretary of the Metropolitan Turf Association when that organization of bookmakers and others connected with the speculative- side of raring flourished in the e-ast a decade or so ago. is among those- who an- spending the- winter he-re. Finding it impossible to maintain o| en ring conditions at Tijuana on account of heavy losses sustained by the bookmakers w he had been laying the odds, manager Coffroth has made- an arrangement under which the ring is prorated at ,000 daily. A dozen bookmakers, under the leadership of Boy Offntt, have taken over the control and are- acting in concert as to the prices to be offered to the public.
