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LOCAL RACING SCENE SHOTS TO WASHINGTON PARK I * FINE INAUGURAL CARD » Great Array of High Class Horses Available at Homewood. • Outlook Bright for Wonderful Sporl With the American Derby Outstanding Attraction. ♦ HOMEWOOD, 111., May 21.— The annual meeting of the Washington Park Jockey Club, inaugurating a season of 120 days of racing at Chicagos four major tracks and bringing innumerable features set around the 0,000 added American Derby, opens Monday at the clubs local Washington Park course. It will comprise the usual thirty days closing on Saturday, June 25, and the sparkling inaugural program drafted today and featuring a renewal of the ,000 added Washington Park Handicap, bespeaks the quality of attractiveness of what will thrill and hold the interest of Chicagos many thousands of racing enthusiasts during the five weeks operation of this South Side course. In addition to the American Derby and the Washington Park Handicap, other of the principal features programmed include the 0,000 added Francis S. Peabody Memorial Handicap for three-year-olds and over, 0,-000 added Illinois Oaks for three-year-old fillies, ,000 added Robert M. Sweitzer Handicap for three-year-olds and over, ,000 added Thomas Curran Memorial Stakes for two-year-old colts and geldings, and the ,000 added Debutante Stakes for juvenile fillies. As the American Derby brings to Chicago the countrys leading three-year-olds, other of the Washington Park stakes and handicaps will attract the best horses in other divisions. Eligibles for the Peabody Memorial and Sweitzer Handicaps include such of the older giants as Gallant Knight, Mate, Spanish Play, Pittsburgher, Lightning Bolt, Brown Wisdom, Camp Boss, Tred Avon, Battleship, Bargello, Wotan, Plucky Play, Jim Dandy and others, along with many smart three-year-olds, and many of the most accomplished and highly regarded two-year-olds are among those named for the two fixtures for juveniles to be renewed during the meeting. CRACK FIELD NAMED. The field named today for Mondays sixth running of the Washington Park Handicap compares with the best in the rcord of the race, and the fast and hard-fought contest almost certain to result will afford somewhat of a "pre-view" of some of the leading oldsters after handicap honors for the meeting and other of the Chicago seasons, as well. Tannery, Don Leon and Stock Market were first, second and third, as named, in the Washington Park Handicap last year. Misstep accounted for the sprint fixture in both 1930 and 1929. and Girl Scout was victorious in 1927. The race was run at a mile and one-quarter in 1926, and was won by Smiling Gus, with Cudgeller second and Arabian third. It was dropped from the program for the 1928 meeting. While conditions are such that the meeting may not enjoy the same financial prosperity that attended others held at this popular, complete and accessible course, the same keen interest smacks on every side, and it is plain to see that Chicagos racing devotees will welcome the lifting of the curtain on the season at hand. Col. M. J. Winn, president and guiding genius of the Washington Park Jockey Club. is confident that with a favorable brand of weather the opening program will lure out as large a crowd as ever visited the grounds on such a day. "Chicago is eager for racing," said Col. Winn today, "and with so many leading stables harboring, what I am sure represents a majority of the best horses in the country, coming on for the meeting, Washington Park will offer the most attractive racing in its history." The Washington Park season will be followed in order by the Arlington Park, Hawthorne and Lincoln Fields meetings. Arlington opens for a run of thirty days June 27, while Hawthornes twenty-nine-day meeting gets under way August 1, and the gates of Lincoln Field swing open for a thirty-onq day season September 3.
