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■ ■ ■ i t . a 1 i • " i t i ? a i - I e i 1 h s t ; -- I to :o I m . HISTORIC CHURCHILL DOWNS j ♦ Nearing State of Perfection Plan- 1 ned for Beautiful Course. ♦ General Manager Matt Winn Looks for Largest Derby Crowd and a Most Wonderful Spring Meeting. LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 8.— Churchill Downs, where the spring meeting of the Ken- I tucky Jockey Club will open on Saturday, May 12, and where the forty-ninth running of the Kentucky Derby will be held on Saturday, May 19, is gradually reaching the perfection which general manager Matt J. Winn has planned for this historic and beautiful course. Each year he has added to its charm and excellence until this year it stands revealed as the race track par excellence, turf haven whose welcome is hearty and whose appeal is irresistible. Colonel Winns efforts are all directed toward the convenience and comfort of the public, and patrons of Churchill Downs will find that no detail has been overlooked tto provide a vantage ground from which every foot of the track can be seen. A new clubhouse and a pergola of unique design are features of the clubhouse inclosure whose far-reaching lawns i and terraces, filled with comfortable chairs ; and rustic benches, will accommodate 10,000 i people. Colonel Winn, in discussing the coming meeting said : EXPECT NEW RECORD. "Every year the throng that visits Churchill 1 Downs to see the Kentucky Derby shows 5 an increase and this year I am confident 1 that all our attendance records will be broken. " This great race is the acknowledged turf event of the year and many thousands of I people make an annual pilgrimage to Chui chill : Downs just to see this one race and to cheer the victor. 1 believe my prediction of , a banner crowd is justified by the demand for hotel accommodations, rooms and apart-; ~ ments, which is unprecedented, and from the further fact that 700 private boxes have been , reserved and that we have 500 applicants anxiously waiting for any possible cancel- lation. We have no reserved seats, all in-i dividual seats in both stands being open to the public. "The new clubhouse and pergola and the extension of the clubhouse grounds, with the e , addition of thousands of comfortable seats. will prevent the usual congestion in that quarter. "Paramount interest in the Derby is shown by the running of special trains by all the e railroads from the big cities far and near, r twenty-five special trains scheduled from n Chicago alone with assurance of at least st 10.000 visitors from that city. The L. and K. s . llail road is laying extra tracks to take care ■e of one hundred private cars that are bringing parties from New York. Chicago, St. Louis and other points for the Derby. PERFECT V1KW OF THE RACES. "I am particularly anxious that the race- 2- loving public shall understand Why the 10 judges stand has been moved down fifty y yards until it is now opposite the clubhouse. *■ There was no intention to give any advantage to the occupants of that inclosure. On the Je contrary, I am always careful to provide je every possible comfort for the grandstand ,d contingent, for they represent the vast ma- t- ority of regular race goers day in and out. lt- There is no other race track in America "a where the occupants of the grandstand have n as perfect a view of the races as they have " at Churchill Downs. Not only can every 2 start be plainly seen, but the final battle at the finish is staged right before them. Then: re _ Continued on eleventh page. _— — — — —— =1===: = 1 J ] , ■ I • 1 HISTORIC CHURCHILL DOWNS Continued from first page. is not a poor seat in the entire stand. The change in the finish line was made because in former years the Derby has been started around the turn, which often resulted in horses next to the rail getting cut off and being deprived of a fair start, which is the right of every entrant. This year, with every promise of a field of twenty or more horses, it was found necessary to advance the starting point fifty yards, so that the Derby field would be dispatched on the straightaway and have more than a quarter of a mile unimpeded course before reaching the first turn. Owners of horses in former Derbys have complained of the start around the turn and the plan now adopted will meet that proper objection, make for a truer run race and insure a better contest, all of which should be pleasing to the spectators. I have also widened the track at the head of tthe stretch until a field of thirty-five horses can be safely started. "While the Derby is not run until Saturday, May 19. the spring meeting at Churchill Downs begins next Saturday. May 12, with a brilliant program, headed by the Clark Han-l dicap. 0,000 added, which is as old as the Kentucky Derby and has alwa s proved a stirring contest, and the ,000 added Debutante Stakes for two-year-old fillies, bt-sids five other races. All the great handicap horses are entered in the Clark Handicap, headed by that popular favorite. Extermina-, tor, which may have the good fortune at Churchill Downs to deprive Man o War of the coveted honor of being the largest money winner on the American turf. Exterminator began his sensational career by capturing the Kentucky Derby. Last year he won both the Clark and Kentucky Handicaps and Mr. Kilmer is hoping that this year he will repeat that astonishing performance. "In my long experience on the turf I have never seen greater local, or national, interest in the Churchill Downs races and I confidently look forward to a spring meeting of high-class sport that will exceed all past records in point of quality and attendance."
