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J Twenty Years Ago Today Chief Turf Events of June 20, 1904 Racing at Washington Park, Coney Island, Buffalo and Union Park and Pair Grounds at St. Louis. S. C. Hildreth accounted for three of the six races carded at Washington Park today, winning the third, fifth and sixth with Witful, Burleigh and Action in the order named. He also had a starter in the first race, Anona, which ran unplaced. The Grass Selling Stakes was decided today over the Coney Island course and resulted in a dead heat between M. L. Haymans Sheriff Bell and W. B. Jennings Dainty. In the run-off Sheriff Bell was an easy winner over Dainty, drawing away in the stretch to win by a length and a half. The distance was at a mile and sixteenth over the turf course and had a net value of ,705 to the winner. Whatever may be the case in other sections and other climes, racing without the speculative or commercial angle in Chicago carries little of enthusiasm and appears to be decidedly a non paying proposition. The attendance at Washington Park today was a mere handful compared to the crowds which swarmed to the track on similar days in recent years. A most liberal estimate would be 3,000 persons, including policemen, detectives, own era, trainers and such of the "regulars" as were drawn there with the hope that something might cccur to change the order of things. No official statement was made as to the number of paid admissions at the gate, but if there were 1,500 the club was fortunate indeed. True, there may have been some persons present who delight in seeing the horses run without a wager, but they were no more numerous than poor boys at a cash sale.
