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Here and There on the Turf Rhode Island Bill. How Racing Endures. Stakes for Havre De Grace. Interest in Exterminator. And now comes Rhode Island looking for the re-establishment of racing in that state. To that end a bill has been presented to the General Assembly providing for the appointment of a racing commission and the legalizing of the pari-mutuel form of wagering. This bill was presented by James A. Tiernan, of Providence, and at present is before the judiciary committee. By the terms of the proposed law tho sport is to be limited to 100 days each year and another provision is that in addition to a fixed license fee each association operating under the law shall be required to pay a tax of fifteen percent of net earnings. There has been no thoroughbred racing of consequence since the fall of 1905, but the Narragansctt Bresders Association of Provi-dencs established a commodious and thoroughly modern course at Naragansett Pier, and many of the best horses in training were attracted, though the venture did not prove a financial success. The bill that seeks to bring racing back would have the licenses and taxes imposed go to the support of the school fund and in many of its sections is similar to the commission bills of both Kentucky and Maryland though in some of the conditions it is more far-reaching. The commission is empowered to fix the size of the purses and also to regulate the price of admission as well as to license race courses. In all of these attempts to bring back racing there is a most important feature that is frequently overlooked by the law makers. That is, a regulation that will limit the number of race courses that may endeavor to take advantage of the law. That is easily accomplished by fixing a limit of tracks based on population. There should be only one race track for cities of a suitable population to support the racing adequately. This would prevent the evil of race tracks springing up at every cross-roads and racks that were merely constructed and operated for financial gain. If the restriction is fixed on a population basis this would be impossible and afford the reputable associations the protection to which they arc entitled. Too often racing has come into disrepute, and associations of merit and importance have been wiped out merely because of the crowding in of the pirates, who have never had the best interests of the turf at heart. Men who are promoters rather than sportsmen, and men who can only see the possible financial gain when they establish a race course. If racing is to be brought back to Rhode Island, it must be brought back by sportsmen who do not seek to re-establish the sport for gain. They must be sportsmen who are willing to spend their money for the right brand of racing and they must see to it that, should the law be enacted, it does not open the door for a horde of promoters who have always worked a great harm to the sport. With no copy of the new Rhode Island bill at hand it is not known whether or not there is any section that will safeguard the racing in the manner that is so imperative, but if there is no section of this character, it is not too late to have one incorporated in the bill. It is essential to the proper establishmenl of racing everywhere that there be restrictions that will keep out professionals who have always been a blight on the turf. Announcement has been made of tha stakes of the .Harford , Agricultural Association for the spring stakes to be decided at the Havre de Grace course in Maryland next month. These stakes are to close April 5, and the meeting will be conducted from April 1C to April 30, inclusive. These stakes that are to be closed have ,000 added and they arc the Harford Handicap at three-quarters, for three-ycar-clds and over; Philadelphia Handicap at a mib and a sixteenth for the rrme age; Chesapeaks Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth, exclusively for the thrce-year-clds, and the Aberdesn Stakes at four and a half furlongs for the two-year-olds. These stakes are all renewals and they are races of importance. The Harford Handicap has always launched the racing season with a good class contest and it invariably attracts a good field of sprinters. The Philadelphia Handicap and the Aberdeen Stakes both have the names of some really good ones in the roster of their winners, while the Chesapeake Stakes has a peculiar value in the fact that it offers an excellent trial for the Preakness j Stakes and Kentucky Derby three-year-clds. Like tha Preakness Stakes it is not open to j geldings. It is at scab weight with allowances j of five pounds for non-winners of two races of 0,000 value; eight pounds for non-winners of two races of ,000 or one race of ,500, and other allowances down to sixteen pounds, which is the allowanc3 for non-winners of two races of any value. There is decided interest in the way Willis Sharpe Kilmers grand old gelding, Exterminator, is training at Tijuana. The son of McGee and Fair Empress was never famed as a work horse, but he is credited with covering a mils in 1 AOYs with Johnson in the saddle. This is a move that is faster than. Exterminator was asked to ihow when he was sweeping all before him in the East. The late Eugene Way-land, who had a hand in the training of Exterminator, never permitted him to show such speed in his training and some of his best races came from work of miles in 1:45 or thereabout. Simon Hcaly, for whom Exterminator won many a race,- never found it necessary to send the horse in a really fast workout so that the Tijuana report is all the more surprising. Of course Henry McDaniel is bringing the old horse back after rather a. long retirement and it is natural that he should have some speed tests, but if Exterminator goes along as he has recently, there is good reason to expect that he will again rapidly become the idol of the turf. Few horses of any time enjoyed the popularity that was his and it will be indeed a big thing for racing if he comes back this year fit for some more cup triumphs. Recent weather reports suggest that, after all, the Long Island race courses are not so bad as winter quarters. Training operations had to be suspended in Kentucky, Friday, by reason of cold rain and frequent snow flurries. At the same time there was a snowstorm and rain at both Banning and Bowie that halted operations of the trainers that are making their horses ready for the Maryland opening. New York did not experience any such weather and such trainers as desired had their charges galloping at Belmont Park, Jamaica and Aqueduct. At this season of ths year the weather is a bit treacherous, but for the most part the horses in Maryland are far enough advanced that a day of idleness will not work any great hardship. But all of this is written to set forth that while horses were idle in both Kentucky and Maryland there was plenty of galloping going on over the Long Island training ground.
