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NEW ORLEANS PERSONNEL - Murphy, Conkling and Hay Well Qualified as Stewards. Selection of Experienced Officials Is Aim of New Regime, Says President of Business Mens Racing Association. LATONIA, Ky., November 1. New Orleans is making elaborate preparations for the coming winter, looking toward the holding of the best racing in the history of the Crescent City. The Fair Grounds management is particularly zealous in this respect and is untiring in its endeavors. The selection of officials of experience has been one of the chief aims of the new regime at the Fair Grounds and, stressing on what has been accomplished, John Dymond, newly-made president of the Business Mens Racing Association, has this to say : "We are glad to announce that we have finally procured our three stewards for the coming New Orleans racing meeting in the persons of Joseph A. Murphy of StJ Louis, Herman P. Conkling of Baltimore and Charles W. Hay of Kentucky. "In selecting these particular gentlemen to act as our stewards we have been guided by a prolonged and careful study of the racing situation which convinced us that we should select for these positions men possessing the following qualifications: SHOULD KNOW RACING RULES. "They should be well posted as to the rules governing horse racing; "They should know the .records of the owners, trainers and jockeys over whose racing they would preside and whose rights they would judge, while serving at our meeting ; "They should be honorable gentlemen, disinterested in the races, unbiased, fair and impartial yet firm in their convictions after they had reached their conclusions as to any particular questionable, act coming under their observation or called to their attention; "They should be men of individual courage and conviction and not mere puppets of a stronger individuality or personality, doing what some one. told them to do; "That they would promptly dispose of and record the business that comes before them; "That they should possess, as far as is humanly possible, the confidence of the horse owners, trainers and jockeys and the public. "While it was a big task, I believe we have procured these qualifications in the three gentlemen we have employed. AUTHORITY DIVIDED EQUALLY. "They have been advised that each shall have equal authority in deciding all questions coming before them; that they shall, exclusive of our appeals board, have exclusive control of all matters affecting the racing of horses after the horses have been started by the starter; they shall constitute a licensed board to issue or refuse licenses to jockeys, and that they shall advise the business management as to undesirable applicants for stable space. "In selecting our stewards Mr. Murphy was chosen because, among -other good reasons, he was familiar with the personnel of .racing in the North and Northwest. Mr. Conkling because he was familiar with the personnel of racing in the East, and Mr. Hay because he was familiar with the personnel of racing in Kentucky and the central "West. "Mr. Hay is at present one of the racing stewards of the Kentucky Jockey Club at Latonia. All of the Kentucky State Racing Commission members interviewed by me spoke highly of Mr. Hay, and it is my expectation that he will develop into one of the leading racing stewards of the country. "We are glad to announce that A. B. Dade will again serve us as our starter. From my observation while traveling and studying the subject of horse racing in America we reached the conclusion that Mr. Dade was Continued on tenth page. NEW ORLEANS PERSONNEL Continued from first page. without doubt the best starter in America. We have yet to find, though we made hundreds of inquiries and visited various race tracks and were brought into contact with hundreds of owners and trainers, the first man to make an adverse criticism of Mr. Dade. This is certainly an enviable record. "Mr. Joseph McLennan will again be with us as racing secretary and in that capacity will act as one of our placing judges. "It was gratifying to note the keen interest displayed by the horsemen and trainers at the Kentucky tracks in our coming New Orleans meeting which, from present indications, promises to be one of the best we have ever had. "Applications for stable space at our meet- ing are being distributed among the horse-; men and are being rapidly filled in and signed up. These horsemen are looking forward with pleasure to their coming visit to the Crescent City. j "We will not have many of the spectacular horses, but a fine band of well-matched horses that should insure close contests. We will have more than enough horses to fill our 1,167 stalls at the tracks. "J3. R. Bradley, owner of the Idle Hour Stock Farm at Lexington, Ky., will build on our ground his own stable of twenty-six stalls. 1 "We had the pleasure of spending Sunday with Mr. Bradley at his Idle Hour Stock Farm near Lexington. He was kind enough to race about twenty of his horses in pairs on his private race track in final tryouts. Jack Dempsey was present and aided in the timing. This private exhibition lasted for about four hours and uncovered some excellent racing material which will be sent to New Osteins this winter." 3, l- e j. . d. th ty r r
