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CHICAGO RACING SEASON • ] New Washington Park Scene of First Local Meeting * J Homewood Course Under New Management and Virtually Rebuilt Now Ranks As One of Finest in the Country Emerging, through the expenditure of a million dollars and the initiative and 1 building ingenuity of Col. Matt J. Winn, from the depths of despond into which it sank as a result of insufficient financial banking, to a position of eminence from which it need not look upward to any other race course in America, the new Washington | Park, new in fact as well as in name, opens its gates Monday for thirty days of racing. The return of this meeting to the Illinois turf calendar, after the lapse in 1927, ; gives the Chicago district four major tracks in addition to that of Exposition Park ; at Aurora. This new Washington Park track, situated near Homewood, is not the original Washington Park where the American Derby was initiated in 1884 and run Suntil 1904, but it is where this classic was revived in 1926, after a lapse of twenty-one years. The Derby was run there also in 1927. In 1928 it was run at Arlington Park, but it returns to its original modern setting this year. Under the new management and in its wonderfully improved environs, the Derby this year carries a value far in excess of any previous running except that of 1926 when it was placed much higher than the conditions of racing in Chi-icago i at the time warranted. It now has an added value of 0,000, the same as the Kentucky Derby, and this is not now regarded at all inconsistent with the capacity and importance of the track or with the support it will receive both from the horsemen and from the turf-going public of the Chicago district. In short, this classic resumes its relative importance on the major turf schedule with none of the precarious aspects which accompanied its revival when racing came back to Chicago. Nor does the Derby constitute, by any means, the stake program of the reorganized Washington Park Jockey Club. There is another of 0,000 added value, the Francis S. Peabody Memorial Handicap, and there are several of ,000 added value, beginning with the Washington Park Handicap, which is the feature of todays opening program. Few races for aged horses that have been run anywhere this year have attracted a better or more picturesque field than the Washington Park Handicap. For one thing, it brings to the post in this section, for the first time since he attained prominence, the leading money winner of the year. Golden Prince, which won the Coffroth Handicap, taking down the largest prize that an aged horse can compete for in the course of the year. Competing with Golden Prince today are Misstep, the colt which ran second to Reigh Continued on twenty-first page. CHICAGO SEASON OF RACING | Con tinned from first page. Count in the Kentucky Derby of last year, and winner of the Fairmount Derby ; Mowlee, a representative of the powerful Rancocas Stable and one which has won an eastern stake this year ; Flat Iron, Cayuga, and two or three others of slightly less prominence. The inaugural stake is a dash of three-quarters. The eligibles mentioned have been accustomed to winning races at greater distances, but they are by no means devoid of early speed and Golden Prince, particularly, may like the opportunity of going in a race of limited distance for his first time out since leaving Tijuana. Golden Prince holds the Tijuana track record for five and a half furlongs and he equaled the record for a mile and a quarter when he won the Cof-froth Handicap, so the racing secretary is never at a quandary to make conditions acceptable to him. Fifteen were named in the overnight entries for the Washington Park Handicap and at least half of them are very highly regarded for their sprinting ability as well as for their staying qualities. Secretary McLennan assigned top weigtt to Misstep, and he must carry 124 pounds. This, however, is only a pound more than the impost given Afowlee, the ace of the western division of the Rancocas Stable. Golden Prince gets in at 117 pounds, but as small as this may appear, compared with the weights on some of the other starters, it is five pounds more than the famous Sunshot Stable racer carried when he won the Cof-froth Handicap. Flat Iron is asked to carry 118 pounds. He goes coupled with T. S. Jordan as the S. Peabody entry. Donnay is coupled with Mowlee, the Rancocas star. There is another race on the card of more than common value, the Olympia Fields Purse, worth ,000, for three-year-olds and up, at a distance of one mile and seventy yards, out of the chute. There are two longer races, at a mile and eighth. The days second race will be a dash for juveniles, known as the Inaugural. There also is a race at three-quarters, exclusively for three-year-olds. Although many of those who will go to Washington Park today have read much about the rehabilitation of the plant, they will realize as soon as they put foot onto the grounds that the most sanguine descriptions have fallen short of telling the whole story of what has been done to take the plant out of its former ugly and uncouth state and make of it the modern racing park that it is today. Those who were visitors to the track in the lean years of 1926 and 1927 will especially appreciate the metamorphosis through which almost the entire place has gone. They will see what, for all practical purposes as well as for the purposes of beauty and luxury, is a new park. All is new except some of the fences and the stables, for even the main grandstand, which still stands, has been so changed and renovated as to be almost unrecognizable, and in addition to its various adornments it has been raised so that the view is far better. This is one of the many particulars in which the striving for a more pleasing picture has simply been a part of Ifc" program to make the plant more comfortable and efficient in every way. Visitors to Washington Park by automobile today are not likely to find the quarters too crowded, even though the crowd may number 25.000 or more and the number of cars themselves reach well into four figures. The Washington Park grounds are very spacious and much more parking space than formerly was used has been set aside, filled and leveled so that no matter what the weather conditions are, the old bugaboo of dust, in dry weather, or mud in wet weather, should no longer exist. Wide and ample avenues afford ready ingress and egress and the experience of the new administration, under president Col. M. J. Winn and general managed C. W. Hay, offers assurance that a fine system will be in effect for the convenience of all visitors. There is so much that is new about the plant, that it is inconceivable that the opening day, with its large attendance, can be attended with no confusion, but it is practically a certainty that whatever wrinkles may be experienced the first day, will very quickly be ironed out. To the rank and file of patrons, one of the most interesting improvements has been that of taking the electrified Illinois Central trains right to the grandstand itself. These trains will run there from Randolph street in about thirty minutes. One train actually made the trip in 28 minutes the other day, making two stops. There will be five track-bound trains today, the first at 9 :30 in the morning, the next at 12 :30 and then at twenty minute intervals up to 1:30, this last train being scheduled to reach the track in time for the first race. Returning, the trains begin to leave at 4 :05 oclock and it is said there will be a score of these city bound trains leaving at very short intervals up to the time the last successful participants in the days activities complete their final transactions in the mutual department. The actual seating capacity of new Washington Park is given as 14,500, with provision made to accommodate 10,000 more with seats on the lawns and in bleachers. The adjacent grounds are so large that it seems that a crowd of 50,000 can be well taken care of with perfect visibility for all. «
