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Here and There on the Turf Chicagos Big Opening Payne Whitney Memorial Fairmount Derby Prospect The Battle in Florida The brilliant opening of the Chicago racing season at Washington Park the racing ground of the Illinois Jockey Club at Homewood told eloquently of the pop ¬ ularity of the sport in that city Its re ¬ vival has been a notable one and racing such as will be furnished at the meeting just opened is sure to give the turf an even firmer hold in Illinois IllinoisThere There are several changes and re ¬ finements in the course that conducted its first meeting last year and each will tend to add to the popularity of the track An abundance of horses is as ¬ sured for the meeting and the book of the meeting prepared by Joseph McLen ¬ nan is one that appeals both to the horsemen and the racing public publicIt It does not take long for a racing meeting to get into its stride and before the end of the week there will be nothing new or novel about Washington Park It will be a daily diet and one that will never grow tiresome to judge from the tremendous welcome that was accorded the thoroughbreds Chicago has worthy racing and Chicago has shown abun ¬ dantly that it will generously support worthy racing The suggestion has been made that some New York association perpetuate the memory of the late Payne Whitney with a special race named for him Doubtless that thought has come to various associations and it will surely come to pass There never has been a turfman to whom such a memorial would be more fitting and it must of course be a becoming memorial and one that will take a place with the great American races racesWe We have our Belmont Stakes named for the elder Belmont who did so much for racing a work that was carried on so magnificently by his son the late August Belmont Then there is the Withers Stakes named for a staunch old time legislator of the turf There is the Dwyer Stakes in memory of Phillip Dwyer Miller Stakes named in memory of Andrew Miller the Wood Stakes named to preserve the memory of Eugene Wood and there are several others that keep green the memory of great men in racing racingIt It is an ideal way to build a monument to a turfman and the name of Whitney has meant so much to racing and Payne Whitney so much individually that the tokens of regard should be fittingly com ¬ memorated memoratedIndications Indications are that the Fairmount Derby to be run over the Collinsville course next Saturday will bring together both a large and a representative field The Kentuckians are determined that no invader from the East shall carry off the prize as the Kentucky Derby was carried back to New York by H P Whitneys Whiskery while there are New Yorkers who promise to make an ¬ other successful invasion invasionLast Last year Joseph E Widener took the Fairmount Derby with Haste and that was the first running of the race This year he has high hopes of adding the second running of the race to his credit with Osmand the swiftrunning gelding that gave Whiskery such a stern argu ¬ ment in the Kentucky Derby His bril ¬ liant race with Black Maria in the Metro ¬ politan Handicap at Belmont Park on Decoration Day will do much to keep him right on edge for the big race of next Saturday Walter J Salmon will doubtless be represented by Black Panther and it is more than likely that Johnny Maiben the first rider for the stable will be in con ¬ dition to ride the colt Maiben was in ¬ jured by a fall at Pimlico but he is galloping horses again and the hurt arm he feels confident will be good as new for the Fairmount Derby There is bet ¬ ter than a chance that the H P Whitney colors will be represented by either Whiskery or Valorous though the last named colt has been preparing especially for the Belmont Stakes to be decided June 11 Then of course the failure of Valorous in the Metropolitan Handicap might bring about some change in his campaign for on that race it would seem that Chance Shot holds him safe for the Belmont Stakes renewal renewalAnd And while the invaders will go to the post with a strong hand Kentucky will be variously and adequately represented The Kentuckians successfully met the eastern invasion in the running of the Kentucky Oaks when Mary Jane and Handy Mandy both finished before H P Whitneys Fresco and they have little fear that the Fairmount Derby will be carried away to the Atlantic coast Since the running of the Kentucky Derby on May 14 there are many colts that fin ¬ ished back of Whiskery that have im ¬ proved greatly and they will offer a much sterner argument than they did at the Louisville course Of these Rolled Stocking and Fred Jr are both expected to show to much greater advantage and there are others well calculated to race well on Saturday SaturdayThe The fight to save racing for Florida is going merrily along at Tallahassee and while the killjoys are strenuously battling to banish the thoroughbreds and with them eighty percent of the money spending tourists the rrlends of the horse and devotees of the turf are by no means idle idleIt It is unfortunate that the three Dade County representatives have proven so utterly false to the wishes of their con ¬ stituents in the stand they have taken against the saving of the sport but the latest effort to save the day for racing in a measure clips their wings wingsThe The recent mass meeting held in Miami was a tremendous acclaim for racing and in various other ways it has been demonstrated beyond argument that the sport is the desire of a vast majority of the tax payers of Dade county With all of this the three representatives sup ¬ posed to represent this community have refused to support the measure that would save the racing racingAt At the present time the effort is to have a bill passed for Dade county alone a county that has overwhelmingly de ¬ clared for the sport and there are hopes that it will prevail in spite of the vigor ¬ ous attacks that have been made by those whose loyalty to the state should lend a hearty support supportRacing Racing has nothing to apologize for in Florida or anywhere else Racing has always benefited any community when conducted along the lines that the sport has been conducted by the Miami Jockey 1 Club and the racing there for the three years it hasbeen carried on has been of great business value to the city cityEach Each winter it has brought visitors to Miami that would not have been there except for the racing and each winter i these visitors have been more desirable than those attracted for any other rea ¬ son They have been men and women of means who have spent freely and the sport each year has bolstered up every business in Miami with the money that has been left by these visitors They are visitors who will spend more in a day than the average tourist will spend in a week and when the money is thus put into circulation it is natural that every business is sure to be benefited
