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t Here and There on the Turf Winter Work for Jumpers. t Steeplechasing Is Honestly Conducted. Facilities of Belmont Park Terminal. Six or Seven Races. t Gimcrack Dinner Features. i While most of the horses that are not tak- ing part in one or another of the winter j i meetings have gone into retirement for the j cold months, it is the season for the making of jumpers and the hunting field is one of the best places. It also affords no end of j sport in the making. Each winter is put in by the trainers of steeplechase stables in edu- eating new horses to that picturesque branch j of fhe sport, while some of the older ones that have raced through the year are hunted, J just enough to keep them in healthful condi- . tion. Of course, others have to be turned , out to patch up bad legs, but, as. a general proposition, there is much more activity about a stable of jumpers in the winter months than I with a string of flat racers. Of course, with the flat runners there is also plenty to do through the winter, but it is the schooling time of the jumpers and, as a matter of fact, it is real steeplechase weather, provided the ground is not too badly frozen. Kentucky long ago banished steeplechasing and hurdle racing and there are no steeplechases at the winter tracks. Both Maryland and Canada have each year offered plenty of inducement for the jumpers, while in New York steeplechasing is a part of the entertainment at Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga, leaving both Jamaica and the Empire City track at Yonkers without cross-country races. This racing has a real place on the turf and it would be well if the jumpers had more and better opportunity. For a time steeplechasing was a regular part of the program of the New Orleans Fair Grounds, when the late C. S. Bush conducted the racing. There was a scandal of some proportions grew out of one of the races and Bush had all the jumps levelled over night. It was the quickest and most efficient way to do away with jumping races. The steeplechasing course has never since been rebuilt at the Fair Grounds. In this connection it is remarkable how manj who should know better have given steeplechasing a bad name. As a matter of fact, a study of both flat racing and steeplechasing will reveal that in proportion to theraces run on the flat and through the field the steeplechases are just as formful as are the races I on the flat. It is a branch of racing that is I ably governed by men who know and is not I deserving of the unjust charges it has had to I combat from time to time. There have been offenders in steeplechasing, just as there have I been from time to time in flat racing, but the I punishment has been just as swift and lasting , I I I I I I I when a case has been taken before the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association as it has been when offenses on the flat have been taken before the stewards of the Jockey Club. While on the matter of steeplechasing, it would be beneficial for the sport if the Long Island trainers had free access to a suitable training ground for their horses. The suitable place is right at hand in the excellent course at the Belmont Park Terminal, the racing ground of the United Hunts Racing Association. This delightful cross-country course is owned by the Westchester Racing Association and it is idb practically all the time, except for the two days meetings of the United Hunts, conducted in the spring and fall. As a matter of fact, it was not even used for the election day racing last November, when Belmont Park itself was turned over to the association. This is an ideal course for the fitting of jumpers and its proximity to Belmont Park, whpc there is a large colony of horses wintering, makes it the logical place for the schooling of jumpers. It could be converted into a pr.blic schooling ground for steeplechasers during the winter and it ought to do great service in awakening augmented interest in cross-country racing. It is probable that when the Business Mens Racing Association opens its meeting at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans it will be with six instead of seven-race programs. This question is now under disosion and it would be well if chc advocates of fix races instead of seven won the day. Six races are ample for any race program and particularly during the winter when the dayj are short, it would seem that seven races are too man-. The main excuse for seven races at any tiais is the over-abundance of horses that will not have adequ:.te opportunities with only six races. But seven races have often led to cvenj a greater number when profit from the mutuels is the inducement. Occasionally there have, been seven races offered in New York, but only occasionally. Racing secretaries have closely stuck to an unwritten rule that six races make up the card for a day. Quoting from Lord Woolavingtons address at the recent Gimcrack dinner the thoroughbred makes the whole world kin. His exact quotation was, "The British thoroughbred makes the whole world kin." But this kinship is applicable to the American or the French or almost any other thoroughbred. This remark was made while he was discussing his Town Guard, the best two-year-old of the English racing season. His description of the colt was, "He was British born, bred by a Scotchman and from a mare whose grand-dam was by Carbine bred in New Zealand and whose fame was in his Australian racing, trained by Gilpin, an Irishman, i.nd ridden by Archibald, an American." At this same Gimcrack dinner Sir Walter Gilbey advocated the appointment of a paid steward to help the regular stewards in their decisions and their deliberations. From time to time the question of a paid steward has been agitated on this side of the Atlantic and thus far the Jockey Club has gone no further than to appoint a paid official who assists the stewards by attending the starts. That is one of the duties that Sir Walter Gilbey would give the paid steward he thinks should officiate at all meetings. He sets forth in his argument for such an official that he would be of great help to the acting stewards and particularly valuable to keep them informed of what happens at the start of a race.
