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Twenty Years Ago Today Chief Turf Events of March 23, 1904. Racing at San Francisco, Los Angeles and Little Rock. August Belmont and S. S. Howland have inspected Belmont Park and are more than gratified at the situation. Not only was the work, which had been completed last autumn, done in a satisfactory manner, but tho winter, severe as it had been on horsemen, was exactly .what was needed to settle the track securely. Up to date everything that was contracted for was done well within the time limit. In a letter received from Fred Taral from across the water recently was the announcement that Frank Van Ness, the American trainer, had accepted an offer to train in Germany this year. Last season Van Ness trained in Austria and Hungary, where he met with a full share of the success that came to the Americans. He did not return to this country at the close of the season and with his acceptance of the German contract he promises to remain abroad as long as his efforts meet with favor. W. M. Murray, the new starter, reached Memphis Monday from New Orleans and will proceed to get busy during each forenoon throughout the week schooling young horses and fractious old ones that need practice breaking away from the barrier. Murray will adopt a new style of starting during the coming meeting, which requires jockeys to walk their mounts slowly forward until the barrier is reached and then break with the rise of the ribbon. The Murray school will open at 10 a. m. and continue until 12 oclock. Time will be put in in this manner each forenoon, the remainder of the week. Murray is a native of Houston, Texas, and has assisted former starter Fitz Gerald at Memphis and at east- . cm tracks for several seasons. He has a style and custom of his own in handling boys who are inclined to overstep their right3 and one of his pet hobbies is to suspend instead of fine jockeys for offenses committed. "The owner pays the boys fine," says Murray, "so whats the use of fining them? They dont care so long as some one else is paying the bill. But placing them on the ground hurts in more ways than one."
