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- j S s 9 Here and There 1 on the Turf 2 , Racing at Freehold. Steeplechasing Is Added. Close of Havana. Ruling on Jockey Gray. i In the closing days of last August there was conducted a race meeting at Freehold, N. J., by the Freehold Driving Association that gave that busy Jersey town an altogether new im . portance. Joseph L. Donahay, the ruling spirit of the association, and his fellow stockholders in the Freehold venture were so well satisfied i with that meeting that plans have been laid for a much more ambitious season of racing this vear. For a considerable time Freehold, each year, conducted harness meetings that had a certain importance, hence the name Freehold Driving Association. The sport last year was confined to the thoroughbreds, so that the name of the association hardly fits the entertainment that is offered, but it is a rejuvenated racing venture that promises to go on to better things from year to year. For the racing this year stceplcchasing will be added to the offerings and to that end a regulation course is being constructed under the able direction of W. A. Gorman, former superintendent of the old Morris Park course, a man who was largely responsible for beau-golf courses in the country has just been laid out the course and it will be up to the standard in all of its appointments. And this Freehold property is not confined only to racing. One c-f the most commodious golf courses in the country has just been laid out through a considerable section adjoining the track proper, while a baseball diamond will adorn the infield by the time the baseball season opens. Altogether Freehold has one of the most delightful grounds for outdoor diversions that is to be found in the wide land. Havana has closed its long meeting of 102 days and now the only remaining winter racing ground is Tijuana. This Mexican track always continues its meeting a considerable time after the closing of both Havana and I New Orleans. It will be remembered there ! were 125 days of racing there last year, Avith i the closing on Sunday, April 22. The closing ; date for Tijuana has NOT yet been announced, , but it is safe to predict that it will be as long ; or a longer meeting than that of 1922-23. j Just now the interest at Tijuana centers! i in the Coffroth Handicap that is to be decided 1 next Sunday and the various candidates for r its honors have been going along in a fashion i to make it a worthy spectacle. The racing at Havana has been better than 1 in former years, and there was a decided increase - in the attendance. The quality of" the j sport was better and in every respect the 2 sport more prosperous than has been the recent t rule at the Cuban racing ground. Mose Goldblatt is the latest to sing the e praises of Miami as the ideal racing ground. !. i . i I ! i ; , ; j i 1 r i 1 - j 2 t e !. Mr. Goldblatt visited in Miami on his way s north from New Orleans and is extravagantly i; is enthusiastic over the prospects for the new t racing ground. In his opinion there is no n spot on the -North American continent so I ideally situated for winter racing and the 1 manner in which the track is being constructed t led him to predict that there would be no i better ground to gallop horses over anywhere t in the world. c s Joseph A. Murphy has made a most peculiar s ruling in the case of jockey Harry Gray. He has withdrawn the ruling that denied that rider all privileges, including admission to the t race courses of Ohio, but he still considers him t guilty. He also reserves the right to vote against his being granted a license to race over tracks under his jurisdiction. Murphy still charges that Gray was guilty of "prostituting" his license both in Ohio and i Canada, and he is just as guilty now as when the ruling was issued. The reason given for withdrawing the ruling is that Fred Gerhardy. who was the associate with Judge Murphy at the time of the ruling is dead, and he does not desire to take further personal jurisdiction over the case. ; This withdrawing of the ruling has nothing of an acquit al in its tone, when the explana- tion goes with it, and it is doubtful if any racing association would restore Gray to good j standing in the light of the reason given for ; withdrawing of the ruling. It is probabb that before many days there will be an announcement of the dates of racing at Hawthorne, the Chicago track. It is known that the dates have been decided upon by Joseph A. Murphy and his associates and little remains to be done now beyond making an announcement. In the meantime the work of making ready for the meeting is going forward and it is safe to promise that the sport that will bo staged at the Cicero track this year will be worthy of Chicago and the sportsmen who are back of the meeting. With the closing of two of the winter tracks there comes new interest in the program of the Pacific Coast Jockey Club meeting which is to be conducted from May 3 to May 25 at the Tanforan course. Seven stakes with ,000 added to each are programmed for that meeting, and they are to be closed April 1. Four of these stakes are handicaps and two of them are for three-year-olds and over; one is exclusively for three-year-olds, and the remaining one is for two-year-clds. Values of ,000 are not considered espe- cially attractive in these days of princely purses, but they are bigger when offered by the Pacific Coast Jockey Club than sums of many times that value by other associations, The Tanforan racing is strictly betless, and it is supported by sportsmen who carried through a successful meeting last year at a considerable loss. It was racing that these J gentlemen were well willing to pay for, and s i; is t n I 1 t i t c s s t t i ; j ; sport they were well able to sustain. What of greatest interest is that these same gentlemen are coming back again with another meeting, and are willing to face a certain loss But it really should not be called a loss. They are sportsmen who arc well repaid in the entertainment they obtain in the racing itself, and in the meantime they are doing a tremendously big thing for the ultimate return of racing to the state of California, on the same firm basis that it enjoyed many years ago. With the coming of fine spring weather there is a general bustle about the various training quarters, and it will not be many days before there will come reports of sensational trials. Seldom before have horses come through a winter with so few reports of sickness, and, while there is still a chance, at the opening of spring, for a visitation of some coughing epidemic, thus far it has not put in its appearance. Even should there come this mysterious disease that has ruined the aspirations of many a Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby candidate just about this time of the year, it will find the horses robust and in better condition physically to throw off the disease. While it has been possibh to watch what is going on at the various public training grounds, many of the real aspirants for stake racing honors this year are still at the farms ! making ready. Many of the owners have thoroughly equipped private training quarters, and most of these farms have training tracks where it is possible to bring a horse right up to racing condition. This is especially true of Harry Payne Whitney Brookdale and Harry F. Sinclairs Ran-cocas, both New Jersey farms. The horses in training at both of these establishments have been doing exceedingly well, and when they are shipped to Belmont Park, or to Maryland, it will be found surprising the way they have advanced in their preparation. . Willis Sharpe Kilmer is another who has training facilities at hfs Sun Briar Court, m Binghamton, second to none in the country. John I. Smith will take a string of these horses to Maryland, and Charles J. Casey will have charge of those to be reserved for the New York season. From various other farms the training reports are encouraging for a goodly number of fit horses as soon as the long racing season opens.
