view raw text
PLAN STEEPLECHASE RACES ♦ Owners of Arlington Park to Carry Out Original Plans. ♦ Courses Expected to Be Ready for Sport Next Year — Eastern Owners Promise Their Co-operation. ♦ Steeplechase racing which, up to the time lacing was halted in Chicago twenty-five years ago, proved immensely popular, is tj be revived at Arlington Park by the American National Jockey Club. But the revival of the spectacular branch of racing will not come until next year, when racing over the hurdles will be big features of the season s program. This branch of racing, which has been so popular at Belmont and Saratoga, where it has been conducted each year uninterruptedly, has a strong- appeal to the sportively inclined and has as its patrons all of the foremost figures in eastern racing affairs. President Otto W. Lehmann and the directors of the American National Jockey Club are of the belief that steeplechasing in Chicago can be placed on just as high a plane as on the eastern courses, and that this branch of the sport will appeal to all lovers of racing. It had been planned by the original owners of Arlington Park to have steeplechase racing, but the plans were never put into effect. The present owners, however, have taken up the project, and already the preliminary work of surveying the steeplechase field has been finished, and in due time the work of erecting the hurdles and leveling off of the field will be started. The course will be laid out in the infield adjoining the inner, or mile track, and the finish will be over that track. When completed, it is believed the field will compare with any in the East. The laying out of a polo field is also to be undertaken. James Simpson Jr. and Laurance Armour, both prominently identified with Arlington Park, are both owners of steeplechase horses racing in the East and they are enthusiaslio over the project of bringing the jumpers to the local track. It is planned to offer a gold cup race and a number of valuable stakes next season for the steeplechasers. Mr. Simpson has just returned from the East, where he interviewed prominent owners of steeplechase horses, including Thomas Hitchcock, A. Henry Higginson, Joseph E. Widener, Marshall Field, E. M. Byers, H. W. Bull and A. C. Schwartz, and received an assurance of their hearty co-operation. They all promised to send their best jumpers to Arlington to participate in the races next year. ♦
