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NEW ORLEANS RACING NEAR Turfmen and Visitors Arriving Daily in Large Numbers. Jefferson Park in Readiness Fair Grounds Fast Approaching Completion. BY .7. L. DEMPSEY. NEW ORLEANS, La., Novemlcr 17. In less than two weeks tlie -winter racing reason here will get under way, ami already the city is crowded with tnrf followers from all liarts of America. The influx began when the Empire City meeting, which concluded the New York racing, ended, and with the v.indup of Kentucky it was on in earnest. Now with Pimlico over there is a steady straam of visitors pouring into this city, and this condition will prevail until after the Jefferson Park meeting begins on Thanksgiving day. Judging from the quality of thoroughbreds arriving daily butter sport than ever is in store for the local race patrons during the winter. More good horses came from Kentucky this year, while thu east will be as well, if not better, represented than in previous years. Among the good ones from the Blue. Grass State on hand here are Midway, Sway, 7olm"O.TiRaider, HigliCostr".! nclTTlare JK, Top Coat and American Ace," so it will be seen that that section will be well fortified in both printing and long route races. Two practically new racing plants will greet the racegoers here this season, and the improvements at botli Jefferson Park and the Fair Grounds have been so extensive that they bear little resemblance to their former selves. At Jefferson the chief task was to effect a drainage system that would prevent a repetition of the floods of last year, when the races had to be called off on account of high water, and this has not only been accomplished, but tested as well. Tiie test came last Sunday and Monday, when the rainfall here exceeded four inches, and the water was carried away In great style. On the "Wednesday following the heavy rain the Jefferson track was almost fast, while in former years it would remain muddy for a week or more after a heavy downpour. At the Fair Grounds a new grandstand is in the course of construction, and it will be the equal of any in the country when finished. It is being built high off the ground like the stand at Churchill Downs, and it will have a seating capacity greater by several hundred than the old stand. The cement floors under the old structure are being replaced by wood flooring, and this will eliminate the dampness which made it so uncomfortable in past years. The erection of the new stand will neccessitate the removal of the finish line back to its original position and thus afford a quarter of a mile straightaway run through the homestretch. The track proper has also come in for a lot of work :ind it will be faster than ever. PLENTY "BABY" RACERS ON HAND. That there will be plenty of two-year-olds on hand for the juvenile racing after the first of the year is evidenced by the large numlier already here, hardly a racing establishment of any prominence failing to have a few youngsters in it. Practically every sire which lias achieved distinction by sending winners to the post this year is represented in the list of "babies" quartered at the two local tracks, and horsemen look for more than the average number of good juveniles to crop out at the Fair Grounds." Already turf experts are predicting great tilings for an unnamed chestnut colt by Itunnymedc Handsome Flora in the A. 15. Spreckels stable, and it must, be admitted that lie is a handsome looking individual. He is large for his ai;e, well formed 1 ml racy looking, and he makes an impression of a favorable nature on a person the moment that he looks at him. Since his arrival lie has not had a ehanco to get into action much, owing to the fact that the Pair Grounds rack was muddy for several lays, but he always showed keen speed on the lirivate track at his owners farm in his early trials. Last year saw the first crop of the progeny of Uliiunymede, and lie produced quite a few winners. To him fell the honor of sending the first two winners of two-year-old races in 1111! to the post IMcteni. which won the opening day at the Fair Grounds, and Ziziz, which was victorious on the second day of the meeting. Others of his get which raced witli much success were Runnnii, which won three races last January; Ruiiiiyven, Alula and Rarar, the latter now dead. Ruuiiynicdc is standing at the Napa .Stock Farm, Napa, Cab. which is owned by A. It. Spreckels, iind his second crop of foals have some high-class mares as their dams. Handsome Flora was raced with much success a few years back by II. G. Bed-well, now trainer for Commander J. K. L. Ross, and her present owner has high hopes of her developing into a real good stud matron. All told there are nineteen youngsters in the Spreckels stable at the Fair Grounds fourteen colts Continued on second page. NEW ORLEANS RACING NEAR Continued from first page. and five fillies. In addition to those by Runnymede, some were sired by Voorhees and Dri Leggo, two stallions Which have begotten many winners. As has been the custom with the Spveekels establishment for several years past, a majority of the coming two-year-olds will be sold before the winter season here ends on March 17. Those remaining will be taken to Kentucky by trainer C. W. Carroll, where they will be raced until sold there. Twenty-two coming two-year-olds comprise the combined strings of G. L. Blackford of Denison, Tew, anil. be. 1. E. Clark of Schulenburg, Tex., both of which establishments are under the care of trainer R. N. "Dick" Vestal. They were bred by their owners at their respective farms, and they are the get of such good stallions as Mtelick. Setback and Everett. Vestal has some .likely looking stake material in the band, and they will all be highly tried before they leave here, as only the best will be kept. Albert Simons will bring down quite a few young horses for Harry Payne Whitney, his employer, and -they will --be- products of the Whitney establishment at Red Bank, N. J. Another breeder who will send some two-year-olds here Is B. A. Jones of Parnell, Mo. Last winter Jones won a number of two-year-old races with his youngsters, but he later disposed of all of them. Senator C. W. Clark of Montana has eight juveniles here in charge of trainer George Barnes, and they are a well-bred band. John W. Schorr will have seven to carry his colors after January 1, and this is more than he raced all year in Kentucky. C. T. Worthington also lias seven. Most of the Kentuckians can always be depended upon to uncork a few good two-year-olds during the winter, even though they do not bring their supposed best ones south. It was at the Fair Grounds that the crack Westy Hogan made his debut, and the same is true of Miss Jemima, which was a sensation in the early spring and summer in Kentucky and New York. Talisman, winner of the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs last May, also raced here last winter; SCHOOLING BEGINS DECEMBER 1. One months schooling will be given the coming two-year-olds at the Fair Grounds previous to the opening of the rileeting. Starter A. B. Dade will have James Osborne and Will Hamilton, two of his assistants, on hand with a starting gate beginning December 1, and this will give the young horses ample time to complete their barrier education before they are sent to the post in races. In addition to ten older horses, E. K. Bradley has four coming two-year-olds here iu charge of trainer William Hurley. Among the younger set is a colt by Black Toney Sweet Alice, and therefore a half-sister to Busy Signal, winner of the Golden Rod Handicap at Churchill Downs, and the renowned, Bradleys Choice. During his brief stud service the young stallion Black Toney has produced such a frequent stake winner as Miss Jemima, while Sweet Alice has established quite a reputation for herself as a stud matron by producing Bradleys Choice and Busy Signal. The other "baby" racers in the Bradley outfit are a colt by Helmet Pastor-ella, a colt by Beach Comber Degenerate and a colt by Cunard Masks and Faces. The older hcrses in the Bradley string here are Iwin, Bulldoze, Brother Maclean, By Heck, Bill Rendered, Bounding Through, Big Idea, Bullet Proof ami Porte Dropenu. Jockeys Lawrence Lyke- and Simpson Boyle will do the riding for the Bradley establishment here" this winter. They are at present on a hunting trip iu. eastern Kentucky with Barry .Shannon,, manager of the Idle Hour Farm, but they will be on hand several days before, the Jcf .-. ferson Park meeting opens. G. J. LONG HAS FOUR YOUNGSTERS. Johnny Fcrriss brought four yearlings down from Kentucky, the property of George J. Long of Louisville, and they will be raced in their owners interest and colors-. Never before was Mr. Longs colors seen on a winter race track, and it is said that the quartet of youngsters which will carry them during the winter are richly bred. They hail from their owners farm, Bashford Manor, near Louisville. Ferriss has sixteen older horses under his care, including the good horse. Jack Hare Jr. Jockey Jack Howard will ride here for J. A. Guncheon, whose horses are trained by Charles Hawk. This is his first visit here in recent years, as he has been riding at Oriental Park, Havana, Cuba, for Williams Bros. During the spring and fall meetings in Kentucky, as well as at Saratoga, he rode for Major Thomas C. McDowell, and he was astride -of : St.. Augustine when that horse rau a mile in 1:30J at Latonia last summer. Howard reports that Manager Waite, the only horse that was raced - by Major McDowell during the recent Kentucky meetings, and which won a race at one and one-half miles at Churciilll Downs, has been retired from racing and will go into the stud at his owners Ashlaud Place. J. W. Johnson, who won a Dominion Handicap with Flora Fina, and an Independence Handicap at Latonia witii Milton I!., in which the latter set at that time a new American turf record for one and three-sixteenths miles 1:50 has re-entered racing with a stable of six yearlings and one maiden two-year-old. He purchased several of the yearlings from Thomas Murphy, former owner of Waltleck Farm, near Louisville, and they are the get of Golden Maxim.
