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PROGRESS AT MIAMI Building and Construction of New Florida Course Under Way. Stables and Track to Be Complete Before Close of Kentucky and Maryland Fall Meetings. MIAMI, Fla., Feb. 9. The Miami Jockey Clubs new track under construction at Hiah-liah is now well under way and the many visitors there have found the first of the thirty-stall stables practically completed and other barns well along. The excavation and grading of the entire backstretch and the first run leading into the backstretch is complete and ready for the laying of the marl and sand mixture over which the thoroughbreds will race. Luke A. Cassidy, general manager of the Miami track, has not followed precedent of other track builders in the work here. At other tracks the first work usually done was the building of a grandstand. Of course, the grandstand and clubhouse are the last buildings needed. Cassidy is building the track and stables first and within thirty days a great deal will have been completed, as the two contractors have their forces well organized. The steel for the construction of the grandstand has been ordered from a steel mill at Birmingham, Ala., Tinil--villlc-ready when needed. The track and stables will be complete some days prior to the close of the autumn meetings in Maryland and Kentucky, so that horsemen will be able to ship here and work their horses over the track through December and have them ready for the races which will start in mid-January of next yeas!. The weather here at this time is as near perfection as any one could ask and outdoor sports are in full blast. The opening of the Jai Alai fronton at Iliahliah Saturday night drew the largest crowd that has assembled for any one event around Miami during the year. Governor Hardee was in the city and occupied a box as the guest of Colonel Frank Shutts, a member of the governors personal staff. The one disadvantage was that the fronton was not as centrally located as might be desired for night sports, it being located directly alongside the race track, which is a little bit more than five miles from the center of Miami. I There were teams of girls, as well as boys, and they furnished excitement that seemed to enthuse the spectators, who were getting their first sight of this fastest of all games played with a ball. The small track, where the dog races are held, is also adjoining the Miami Jockey Club property, and this sport has many patrons, both natives and visitors. During the season of horse racing the greyhounds will be raced at night, and this sport is certain to draw a i large patronage from the ranks of the jockeys ; and stable boys, many of whom, no doubt, I will wish to own dogs and race them under j their own colors.
