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PRIZES WORTH WINNING ■ ♦ Kentucky Liberal and Fruitful Field for Racing. + _ Associations in Blue Grass State Will Distribute More Than One .Million Hollars In 1928. LOU IS VI LEE, Ky., April 6.— It is a well defined and time honored axiom that money is the all-powerful lever that keeps the world moving. It is no different in its application to sport than to the other affairs of life. There is no question that the wonderful expansion and prosperity that has attended Kentucky racing in recent years has been chiefly due to the liberal prizes which the racing associations of the Blue Grass State have hung up, to be contested for. Big money for the horses is the foundation upon which the present highly satisfactory racing fabric in Kentucky has been built. Big money attracts the best horses of America to Kentucky, and the presence of the stars of the turf in turn attracts racing enthusiasts from far and near to see the notable contests, in which they engage. The one thing follows the other as a matter of course, and this explains to a large degree why the Kentucky turf has thrived and flourished as it has during the past ten years under the wise and beneficent control of the State Racing Commission. During the spring and summer racing seasons of eighty-one days, opening at Lexington and terminating at Raceland, close to a million dollars will be distributed in stakes and purses by the racing associations of the state. This princely sum represents a greater distribution each day than any other racing cricuit, with the exception of the Chicago circuit, offered the horsemen, and this explains why Kentucky is the scene of such wonderful racing, as has been the rule of late years. Lexington will furnish 0,000, and Churchill Downs will contribute, 30,-000 of the million to be distributed among the horsemen this spring, while Latonia will furnish approximately 00,000, and Raceland the remainder, which will approach close to 50,000. The climax of the season will not really be reached until the scene of racing shifts to Churchill Downs with its wealth of rich stake offerings, and its splendid clientele of patrons from the populous territory adjacent to it, in addition to the large number of visitors from distant parts who will journey here to witness the Kentucky Derby, and whose numbers will be swelled this spring by the presence of many who have been accustomed to patronizing racing in other places. The tempting character of the stake program, including the Kentucky Derby — which is admittedly the biggest factor in attracting visitors to Louisville — augers well for the forthcoming season of racing at Churchill Downs, which is expected to be the very best ever conducted in the fifty-four years of the tracks existence.
