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i Here and There ! on the Turf Spring Racing Season. 1 1 Growth of Bowie. Tanforan Postponement. Short Grass Farm Sale. About this time each year there is always awakened interest in the opening of the spring season of racing. Those who rested during the long winter months arc eager for a return of the thoroughbreds, while those who have spent the cold months at one or other of the wintar courses have become track sore and long for a change of scene. Those who go right through winter racing day in and day out are just as eager for the opening of the spring meetings as arc those who have foregone the sport for the "hot stove." It is always Maryland that begins th; real spring racing for the faithful. Many wait for the opening of the Kentucky campaign at Lexington, but it is always three weeks or more later than Bowie, and not a few will put in the time at the first Maryland meeting bsforc shipping to their favorite racing ground in Kentucky. Year after year this racing at Bowie has grown in importance. When James F. 0IIara and his associates of the Southern Maryland Association built the Bowie course they were not welcomed by the established racing organizations of the state. For that reason they had no open days and operated for the first meeting in opposition to Laurel. Some who did not know OHara and his resources predicted a short life for the infant track, but it proved to be a particularly robust youngster and offered such sturdy opposition that adequate rccognization was quickly forced. From that time Bowie has steadily grown in importance until now it is one of the strong3st links in the Maryland circuit. It has been a richly deserved success, for with each meeting there has come increases in the purse offerings and the addition of stakes, until it is well worth while to have good horses ready early and race , them late in the year. It is Bowie that begins . and closes the season of .racing in Maryland and that means beginning and closing the racing season in the East. These were the least desirable, dates. But Bowie has made them 1 truly important. As Bowie grew in importance it became a 1 popular training ground through the cold J weather and this winter a considcrab.c colony of horses spent the off time there. Now thcr; ! has begun the influx, of the spring racing strings and Bowie is becoming a busy place. It is only recently that the hors:s of the : Rancocas Stable, II. P. Whitney, Richard T. . Wilson, Robert L. Gerry, Walter J. Salmon and I the like began racing before the opening of I the New York meetirigsand they were : through wlith the finish of the New York season. - Now they begin at Bowie and they are found there at the end of November. This tells ekquenlly oi how Bowie has 5 climbed to a proud place in th turf scheme. . It is natural that better horses are found I there in the fell than in the spring for two excellent reasons. One is that April 1 is a decidedly early to have a horse that has idled I i ! 1 1 , . 1 a 1 J ! : . I I : - 5 . I a I all winter ready for the silks. Another is that the prizes arc never as alluring as they are in the fall. Then in the fall the good horses are fit from a season of campaigning and stretching it out a bit means little in comparison with rushing a soft horse to have him ready in the spring. But the early spring races are of great j 1 benefit in fitting candidates for the Preakncss 2 2 3 Stakes, Kentucky Derby, Dixie Handicap and 4 the various other big values that come in c 5 May. Nothing will fit a horse like actual C G 7 racing and many a good one has been showing good form at Bowie in April to go on later in the year to do big things. Bowie fits into l 1 tho turf scheme admirably and it continues to r 2 grow in importance as a racing ground. a 3 New Orleans, as well as tho other winter 4 4 tracks, has a resemblance to Saratoga Springs 5 r in a smaller way. At Saratoga Springs the f 0 horses come from almost everywhere horses 7 arc raced. It is the playground of all the sportsmen and it is where they show their 1 best. At the winter tracks, while thero nat- ; 2 3 urally is not the same high class of horses 4 found in competition, they come from various sections. New York horses arc found at New ! Orleans, Havana and Tijuana and they arc in J competition at each racing ground with horses from the other sections in the fall. There is a scattering of the stables that determine to have a winter campaign and they do not by any means pick the same winter tracks each year. One winter will find the horses racing at Havana. The next year the ! same stables arc found at New Orleans or Ti- i juana. All of this adds to the interest in winter racing. It is constantly growing, but i it will always mean the bringing together of the various racing points and in that there is the resemblance to Saratoga and a condition that makes for better interest in the sport. Announcement has been made of a postponement of the spring meeting at Tanforan. The new dates that have been selected will set the opening back until May 3 and the meeting will continue until May 25. An excellent reason for this change of plans is to escape conflict with the racing at Tijuana. The Mexican track would undoubtedly offer an opposition that is to be avoided for complete success. This is not looked upon as in any sense a conflict in patronage, but it Was decided that the conflict might prevent the presence of some horses now racing at the Mexican track. Several of the sportsmen at Tijuana have engaged stabling at Tanforan and it was in order that they should be able to round out that season comfortably. Tanforan need not fear any conflict with Tijuana as far as gate patronage is concerned, for what they offer is too widely different. The meeting at Tanforan is strictly and purely a sporting one, while no stretch of the imagination could so dignify the racing at the Mexican course. There are several horses of high-class racing at the Tijuana track, but the methods there and the general patronage of the meeting is not worthy of comparison with Tanforan. Interest continues to grow in the coming sals of Mrs. Emil ITerz Short Grass Farm, and the many attempts that have been made to buy privately testify to that interest. It is commendable that every private offer that has been made has been refused, for too often the "cream" has been skimmed off an auction and prospective buyers find only the culls left in th2 catalogue when the auction is called. As a matter of fact, there do not seem to be any culls in this particular sale, but it is natural that there arc choice bts that will go under the hammer. What makes the sale of peculiar importance is that in addition to a rcmarkabb band of thoroughbreds it means the passing of the farm itself. As Kingston the farm was of great importance in the thor-: oughbred breeding industry. In the short term it was occupied by Corrigan and McKinney it grew to some greater fame and it is fitting ; that it should continue the. same famous nursery. Several breeders and sportsmen have i J looked the farm over with a view of bidding, , j and it seems assured that Mrs. Hcrz will realize i a good price for the broad acres. I
