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Here and There on the Turf Fair Grounds Meeting. Position of the Stewards. Louisiana Derby Prospects. Subscription Surplus. The Fair Grounds meeting came to a close in a blaze of glory Tuesday afternoon. The bsst card of the meeting attracted a crowd that almost reached the record for the course, and, although good weather and the big attendance came too late to make the season a success financially the management may well feel repaid for any deficit which occurs by the fine diversion which was given to the public. The Fair Grounds meeting was not without its unpleasant aspects. There were a number of form reversals which were not a particularly good thing for the sport. In one case, that of Translate, the stewards found sufficient evidence of sharp practice to bar the horse, the owner and trainer from the turf. There were several other cases which brought no action, although they were thoroughly investigated. There was considerable criticism of the officials in many quarters, but there was no proof offered that any of it was justified. When track conditions are as bad as they were during most of the Fair Grounds racing, even good horses are likely to race inconsistently. . But most of the form reversals which brought the flood of criticism against the stewards, occurred in races which attracted only the inferior grade of starters. The racing at the Fair Grounds was probably as clean as at any winter track, perhaps cleaner. It .has become a habit to look for suspicious races at the New Orleans meetings, and there arc many factors in the local situation . there to encourage bickering and criticism. . The stewards of the meeting, however, acted J promptly and drastically when occasion demanded ;- and there is no sound reason for assuming 5. that they did not do their full duty. f. It is absolutely impossible for any set of ,f racing officials to satisfy everybody. If the lC stewards of a meeting maintain proper discipline 3. they will make . enemies, and these ;a enemies are all too ready to find laxity, or ir discrimination, in every subsequent act of th; i; officials. Yesterday the Jefferson Park spring meeting g of eleven days began. This is a short meeting, y which will come to a closa March 17 with h the running of the Louisiana Derby. The ic 5,000 added ra.e, for three-year-olds, which will feature the closing day at the- Shrewsbury s- course, will attract at least two horses ;s which are well above the winter average. These are Benjamin Blocks Thorndale and Mrs. R. M. Hoots Black Gold. Thorndale le demonstrated during the Fair Grounds meeting t- that he is the best of the three-year-olds Is that have raced through the winter at New Orleans. Black Gold, although he has not been raced during the winter, has shown in n . . J ;- 5. f. of ,f lC 3. ;a or ir i; g y h ic s- ;s le t- Is in n : recent trials that he still possesses the same high speed which made him the outstanding two-year-cld development of the last New Orleans racing season. There is naturally a great deal of interest in the coming meeting of these two stars. Thorndale has shown a considerable amount of staying ability, while Black Golds bre2ding leads one to believe that he may be only a high-class sprinter. He has never been asked for speed over a distance of more than a mile, of course, and only an actual race against good horses over a worth while distance will prove his ability to stay, or the! lack of it. - The committee in charge of last years International Steeplechase Subscription has an-h nounced that a surplus of 8,000, remaining after the purchase of the foreign jumpers, which were distributed to subscribers last No-e. vember, will be used for races in six steeplc-d chases during the coming season, These races are to b3 restricted to junipers obtained from the subscription. They must be owned at the time of the race by the origi-w j nal subscribers or by some other person ac-t ceptable to the committee, J Two of these races will be run during the spring meeting at Belmont Park, two at the spring meeting at Aqueduct and the remaining two at Saratoga in August. This is an excellent way of distributing the surplus money among the subscribers, as it gives the owner of a subscription jumper an opportunity to win back almost all of the amount which he paid out for his horse in a single race. It stimulates interest in the subscription jumpers and furnishes six worthwhile events for cross-country racing at three metropolitan meetings. The Maryland Jockey Club will also run a race for subscription jumpers at the Pimlico spring meeting, with a purse of ,000 added, so that there will be plenty of good opportunities for these foreign horses to earn their way during the coming racing season.
