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Here and There on the Turf Promise of Racing Expan ¬ sion sionMovements Movements in the Coast States StatesSolid Solid Character of New Promotions The turf should have no horizon except the wide ocean and with the various movements that are going forward in this country there is excellent promise that no section of the broad land will be without its season of racing within a reasonable distance Some days ago there was published by Daily Racing Form a proposed circuit that would keep the thoro ¬ ughbreds employed all through the year on the Pacific coast Now the state of Wash ¬ ington has made known its plans in that gen ¬ eral scheme and with the support of the news ¬ papers of Seattle and other coast cities there appears to be an excellent chance for the passing of legislation that would make these plans effective The Washington Thorough ¬ bred Association which is fathering the work of bringing racing back is composed of rep ¬ utable solid men in the community and the bill before the legislature provides for govern ¬ ment by a commission with a tax of 1000 every racing day for each track with the ex ¬ ception of fairs of six days duration Such meetings are exempt from the tax The com ¬ mission will have full power to fix the amount of stakes and purses as well as to allot the racing time timeIt It is proposed to have ninetyeight days of racing a year in the state of Washington and these dates are allotted in the following man ¬ ner Seattle twentyfive days Vancouver twentyfive Tacoma twenty Spokane ten and the Washington State Fair Spokane In etrstate Fair and the Walla Walla Fair six days each The bill provides that the revenue from racing be expended by the state to aid community fairs and to promote the breeding of thoroughbred horses horsesThe The general outline of the bill is much the same as the measures under which the Ken ¬ tucky and the Maryland Racing Commissions govern racing in thos3 two states except that the Washington state body is given greater power over the different associations Thus it will be seen that Washington is pre ¬ paring to take an important part in the Pa ¬ cific coast circuit that is being planned With the wide range in temperature up and dowa the coast racing the year around is easy of accomplishment should the plans carry through to a successful conclusion and there are horses in abundance to make racing what it should be beThis This is in no sense an experiment for tha men who are endeavoring to bring back rac ¬ ing Many can easily remember when racing flourished west of the Rockies Seattle Ta ¬ coma Vancouver Spokane and the other west ¬ ern cities have in the past ably supported rac ¬ ing when it was not under such a jurisdiction as is proposed for the state now It is well remembered not so many years ago when there was racing in almost forty states Those where the thoroughbred was welcomed and racing of some sort was carried on were Alabama Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Iowa Illi nois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Kansas Montana Maine Maryland Michigan Missouri Minnesota Florida New York New Hamp ¬ shire New Jersey Nebraska North Carolina New Mexico Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina Texas Tennessee Utah Vir ¬ ginia West Virginia Washington Wisconsin Wyoming and some other states that may have been overlooked Over this list there is no dispute Racing was conducted in each of these states and successfully conducted as can be attested by plenty of horsemen horsemenThere There was reason for closing down in some states Those with the best interest of the turf at heart welcomed the expulsion of those whose socalled race meetings brought the greatest of all sports into disrepute What is of interest is that there were horses enough to support so many race meetings at a time when the thoroughbred production did not compare well with that of the present day dayLong Long since there has been a thorough house cleaning and the turf is being built again on a firm foundation that should endure The meetings that did harm also taught a lesson that will never be forgotten in this country The disaster that followed such racing in some localities made certain that it can never be tolerated again and now the new turf is spring ¬ ing up on a firm foundation built by honor ¬ able men whose responsibility and integrity leaves no chance for reproach reproachIt It is not expected that all of the states that have been mentioned will come back to the sport for a considerable time but already there have been some notable revivals and when they are conducted as was that at Chicago there cannot well bs too much racing With constantly expanding thoroughbred breeding new localities demand racing and the great service that is done by the thoroughbred horse off the race course makes him a national asset of immense value The race course is the one testing ground of the thoroughbred and with increasing breeding operations it is imperative if the breeding is to continue to grow that there may be more of these testing grounds groundsWhat What would be more natural than that Vir ¬ ginia should return to the turf importantly Some of the best horses first see the light of day in that state and no commonwealth of like population has a greater percentage of turfmen and sportsmen who would restore all the old racing glories Tennessee is another state that could well come back and there is more than a hope that Missouri will be back As for the far West it is rapidly coming back and altogether the future of the American turf is particularly bright
