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KENTUCKY FRIENDLY Does Not Look Upon Chicago as a Racing Rival Col Matt Winn Says Sportsmen Sportsmenof of Blue Grass State Hope the theSport Sport Is Revived Here Kentucky is not opposed to a revival of racing in Chicago Kentucky does not look upon Chicago as a rival but as a friendly partner in promoting the best interests of the turf Such was the statement of Col Matt J Winn general manager of the Kentucky Jockey Club who is here in Chicago on a short visit visitCol Col Winn silenced at once reports that he came to Chicago with a view to financial in ¬ terest in any of the projected tracks Owing to the unprecedented interest and advance reservations for the Derby he deemed it nec ¬ essary to hold a conference with railroad of ¬ ficials to assure adequate handling of special trains from this city cityThe The experimental meeting at Hawthorne last year and the talk all winter of a more pretentious revival of racing here this year lias aroused so much interest locally in the sport in general that it would not be at all surprising if a crovd of 5000 or more entrain for Louisville to see the running of the forty ninth Kentucky Derby on May 19 19Chicago Chicago reservations are already 50 per cent greater than last year The Chicago Athletic Association has requested reserva ¬ tion of a special section in the grandstand while individual applications for more than 200 boxes have been received receivedCol Col Winn was enthusiastic over the pros ¬ pects for the coming spring meetings in Ken ¬ tucky and predicted that the largest crowd that ever gathered at historic Churchill I owns would witnesss this years Derby DerbyWOULD WOULD HELP KENTUCKY BREEDING BREEDINGCommenting Commenting on racing in Illinois Col Winn said Contrary to opinion in some quarters Kentucky emphatically does not look upon Chicago as a rival but as a potential co operator in promoting the best interests of the turf Kentucky aside from its racing is a breeding state Any additional outlet for our product helps our breeders Candidly I think Chicago also would help our racing racingAny Any advice from our own experience that may be asked or any assistance from our staff of officials is at the call of the gentle ¬ man sportsmen behind your projected jockey club which hopes to secure a bill at Spring ¬ field fieldWhatever Whatever loss there might be to us from a few days contlkt at either end of our meet ¬ ings would be more than compensated for in building up a western circuit with high class stables participating participatingIn In fact to show how I feel we would be willing to chop off a few days from our spring and fall meetings to work out a sched ¬ ule with a real jockey club in Chicago one similar to old Washington Park ParkRacing Racing in Chicago would bring many of your leading citizens into the game with rac ¬ ing stables men who like to see their own horses run but who perhaps cannot spare time to visit other cities citiesSuch Such a western circuit would not detract from eastern sport because I feel racing here in Chicago would bring an infiux of new owners and a new clientele Many Chicagoans now owning farms near this city also would become breeders We of Kentucky sincerely hope to see racing reestablished here
