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Here and There on the Turf - I While no doubt remains that Jacksonville is well able and willing to adequately support racing at St Johns Park, formerly Keeney Park, it has been peculiarly unfortunate in the matter of weather. Last December when Frank Keeney brought this meeting to a sudden termination, without any good reason, there was a spell of unreasonable and unseasonable weather. The early spring, with Wililam V. Dwyer, the principal owner of racing grounds and Florida Jockey Club, there has come more of the bad weather. There has been almost continual rainy weather since the opening of the present meeting and the attendance has been remarkable, considering that condition. But with better weather it is natural to expect that a much greater measure of success would have come to the sport. Mr. Dwyer has frequently expressed gratification at the way the racing has progressed and, while he has made no announcement of plans for his next meeting, he has promised that considerable money will be spent on the racing grounds. It will be remembered that until a few days before the opening of the present meeting there was uncertainty as to the method of wagering that would be employed and, in fact, all of the preparations for the meeting were made in haste. There will be a better opportunity to lay sound plans for a fall secscn, should one be decided upon, and it will be possible, with the experience of the present meeting, to go along with a better understanding of what is best for success. It seems that St. Johns Park has now come to stay and it may readily become an important part of the racing scheme in Florida. In the meantime there is always the hope that for the 1932 season Florida will enjoy a racing enactment that will work a great good for the winter sport. The racing of the Miami Jockey Club, as well as that of the Florida Jockey Club, has proven that the sport is possible under the present laws of the state, but a racing law is essential to give the sport its proper place in the state. The law will permit the state to derive a considerable revenue from racing and at the same time will so regulate it that much good will be accomplished. The measure that will be proposed will be built along lines to make for stability and keep out the promoters that have worked a great harm in many sections where the racing was conducted purely as a business and for profit The progress of Gallant Fox and Flying Gal would suggest that James Fitzsimmons may start one or both of them in the Preak-ness before their engagement in the Kentucky Derby falls due. What is particularly impressive in the training of William Wood-Wards pair is the fact that they have progressed until they are fit and ready to be galloped smartly for the mile and three-six- teenths of the Maryland Jockey Clubs valuable three-year-old fixture. While many of the other candidates are hardly beyond six furlongs in their breezing, both of these are sent along over more exacting distances. In all of this preparation "Fitz" has brought his charges along gradually and he has been rewarded by having them come along magnificently in wind and limb. And while the three-year-old pair have been going forward, Diavolo, champion stayer of 1929, has also been coming along for the genial trainer in a manner to indicate that he will surely be seen under silks for the running of the Dixie Handicap, the opening day of the Pimlico meeting, April 28. It is remembered that Diavolo Avon the same prize last year under 112 pounds, but he raced his way to such fame before the end of the season that this year he is required to shoulder 128 pounds. Incidentally, the magnificent son of Whisk Broom II. and Vexatious, bred by Harry Payne Whitney, is generally considered by good judges as the best horse since that grand gelding Exterminator, which, in turn, was rated by many as a better horse than Man o War, popularly known as the "wonder horse." Diavolo is now in his fifth year and is coming back to the races in a fashion that holds out bright promise for a fuller measure of greatness than he enjoyed last year. A horse of perfect manners, there is nothing that disturbs Diavolo, and temperamentally he is better fitted to go through a season without a nervous waste of energy - than possibly any other horse in training. It may be cheering to the trainers who still have their horses at one or another of the Long Island training grounds to know their charges appear to be as far or farther ad- vanced in training, than the horses that are making Teady in Maryland. Of course, this has to do with horses that will not be seen under silks until the Havre de Grace meeting, or the Pimlico session. Incidentally, the Pimlico colony is a particularly large and a particularly attractive one. This applies to the old horses as well as the juveniles that are but recently from various farms. Various of these youngsters have shown an abundance of speed, but with all of their progress both Belmont Park and Aqueduct can boast of better trials than those of Maryland. All of this bodes well for the spring racing. At Bowie it is natural that the winter campaigners will continue through the early days as more or less dominating the racing, but that is because some of the winter idlers are being reserved for later efforts. Setting back of the post time for the first race at Bowie from 2 oclock until 2:30 has not proven popular with the racing public, and it would be well if there was a return to the old order of things. This opinion was virtually unanimous with the first day of sport and, besides being popular with the patrons, in the lateness of the return from the course, by reason of the later start, promises to be a bad business policy. Many of the patrons have left after the running of the sixth race who would, naturally, have remained for the completion of the program with the earlier start. This, it seems, more than offsets any advantage that can possibly come from beginning half an hour earlier. Ray Bryson, who recently purchased the Waite stall gate from its inventor, with whom he was formerly associated, is authority for the announcement that the device will be in general use on the race courses of Kentucky j this year. This will mean the use of the I starting gate at both Churchill Downs and Latonia. It will also mean the starting of the Kentucky Derby from the stalls. Thus the stall starting gate continues to gain in popular favor. Illinois has declared for such a device -in the Bahr gate, and Maryland employs one or another of the machines. There must be merit when section after section comes to that method of starting the races. It has taken some time for the stalls to obtain such recognition, but there have been vast improvements and additions to the machines since the first one sought, to displace the old starting barrier without the use of the stalls. But that has been so with every innovation. When the old barrier was suggested to take the place of the drum and the flag, there were those who laughed at the idea, but the merit of the tapes brought them into general use. The stall machino has gone through the same fight for recognition, but it would seem now that the time is not far distant when such devices will be in general use. William Dupont, who races under the name of the Foxcatcher Farms Stable, though a comparatively recent addition to the American turf in a big way, promises to race his way to real importance during the coming season. Mr. Dupont had an auspicious beginning when, early in his racing venture, his filly Fair Star was winner of the first running of the Selima Stakes, in 1926, and then followed that triumph up by beating both fillies and colts in the Pimlico Futurity. For the season that just has begun at Bowie the Foxcatcher Farms Stable has a wonderfully strong string of juveniles, as well as older horses, and at this time there is good reason to predict that the silks will come to an altogether new importance. These horses are at Havre de Grace and the juveniles in particular have attracted much attention. Mr. Dupont is a man well calculated to be of immense value to racing, and any degree of success that comes to his horses is of importance in the healthful growth of racing. A man of wealth, racing with Mr. Dupont is a sportsman in the fullest sense of the word and it is a matter of no importance what revenue conies from the racing. He will put in much more than he takes out, no matter how successful his horses may be, and it is the life blood of racing to have such men devoted to the thoroughbred horse and thrilled with their triumphs. g
