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BEAUTY OF LAUREL TRACK Maryland State Fair Association Has One of Finest Courses in the Country. LAUREL, Md., September 27. Besides being the home of the historic Pimlico race course, the State of Maryland also has within its borders one of the largest race tracks in the country in Laurel, ir addition to two other mile courses Havre de Grace and Bowie. More than 300 acres comprise Laurels plant, which for beauty is only behind Belmont Park and Saratoga of eastern courses. The grounds also can accommodate 2,500 automobiles. The aver-age racegoer does not realize the magnitude of a first-class race course, and herewith are presented a few facts concerning Laurel: An eight-foot high fence incloses the entire grounds, being more than three miles in circumference. There are 1,000 stalls and sixty-two living rooms for stable help, ten boiler houses for a modern system of cold and hot water for stable supplies. These houses have living rooms on the second floor. There are three public kitchens or restaurants for stable help. The Maryland State Fair gives the privileges of these kitchens free to those who run them Avith the understanding that they are to furnish Avholesome food in clean surroundings at reasonable rates. The incinerator for destroying used and unused mutucl tickets is a steel bar cage twenty feet long, ten feet high and ten feet Avide. It has a burning capacity of two tons. The spraying machine for disinfecting stalls and sheds is run by a three-horsepower gasoline motor, and has a capacity of 500 gallons. The track is a mile in circumference, with an average Avidth of 100 fect. There are also two chutes, one is three-fourths of a mile and the other is one and a quarter miles. The steeplechase course is considered one of the best in the country. The paddock inclosure is ranked in beauty Avith those of Saratoga and Belmont Park, being laid out in grass plots with ornamental shrubs and flower beds. Last Avinter 100 young trees Avere planted in the inclosure. The paddock building is the only one of its kind, beiug an innovation in this class. It is circular. On the roof are forty flagstaffs, and on racing days the colors of the various owners racing on that day, made into flags, are hoisted on these staffs. The association has flags made of colors of all the principal owners racing in this country and Canada. The racing secretarys office and jockey room is one of the most complete of its kind. It is finished in natural Avood Avith hardAA-ood floors, with the exception of the jockeys locker room, which has an Italian stone composition floor. The building is three stories in height. The top floor is a glass roof solarium, where the jockeys can see the races. The floor underneath consists of the locker room, bath and washroom, a rest room for jockeys, with couches, Avhere they can recuperate between races or Avhen they have come in from a long trip on the road trying to reduce. On this floor also is a restaurant and kitchen, exclusively for jockeys, where they can order hot meals. Continued on ninth page. BEAUTY OP LAUREL TRACK Continued from first page. On the main floor is tlie horsemens room, where they congregate to make entries and declarations; also to get their mail and make Jockey engagements. Tills room is handsomely equipped, and has connecting washrooms and telephone booths. On this floor also is a hospital room, with a complete equipment bed, operating table and all the various surgical instruments nnd necessary snpplicj to perform n major operation. During the racing meeting there , is always a physician and his assistant in attendance. The association has. also an automobile ambulance, and it is arranged that in case an ambulance has to leave the track for a hospital with a case, another ambulance will take its place, so there will always be one at the track. The clubhouse is noted for its beautiful antique furniture, which was selected by a Baltimore woman decorator. One of the gems of the collection is a Chinese Chippendale wall cabinet, which was the property of the late Sanford White, the famous architect. In the clubhouse are four bedrooms and baths, which are occupied during the meeting by Spalding Lowe Jenkins, president; F. .1. MacKain, treasurer; F. J. Bryan, racing secretary, and Luke A. Cassidy, resident manager. In the grandstand there arc three bedrooms and baths, which aro kept for emergency, in case the heads of the mutuel department wish to stay overnight. The clubhoust restaurant, grandstand restaurant, lunch counters and all other privileges are run by Harry Stevens, who has a record of catering to. more than 100,000 persons in a single day. The mutuel department- is considered one of the largest and best in the country. The grandstand and bleachers are GOO feet long and have a capacity of 7,000 persons, and there are sixty private boxes. The railroad transportation is furnished by the Baltimore and Ohio. There are eleven special trains every day five from Washington, five from Baltimore and one from Philadelphia, with a New York connection. Additional trains are run on Saturday. The running time from Washington and Baltimore is thirty minuteJ. This year it is the intention of the railroad company to have coaches reserved for ladies, where smoking will not be permitted; also Pullman chair cars. The management employs twenty-one night watchmen, who patrol regular beats, and at no time is any of the ground left unguarded.
