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NEW WASHINGTON PARK j Homewood Course to Be Refurbished and Completely Modernized, . I Electric Totalizer, Costing 0, -000, and New Public Address System Among Improvements. , " The race course of the future a model track reconstructed to meet the challenge which the new era has forced upon the historic sport of kings will greet Chicagos thousands of followers of the thoroughbred when Washington Park throws open its gates on May 25 for the 31-day meeting, which is expected to make Chicago once more the summer capital of American racing. New management is bringing more than new faces and new ideas to Washington Park. Headed by president John P. Harding, the group of Chicago business and social leaders which took over the race course a few months ago, is bringing new capital and new confidence in Chicagos racing future which is taking concrete form daily in sweeping improvements. Among those which will be made before the new management opens its first meeting are: The most modern electric totalizer in the world, which will cost, when completed, 50,000. Modernized grandstands and clubhouse, with the many tiers of boxes popular under the old order ripped out to furnish thousands of free seats for the racing public. Totalizer windows in the stands, as well as in the betting ring beneath them, for convenience. Messenger service will be an added convenience. An entirely new public address system of the most modern type. Extensive repainting and remodeling of the entire plant, from fences to stables. Conversion of bars and cafe into fine restaurants, with picked men from president Hardings restaurant organization in charge. TO SPEND 50,000. Exclusive of the totalizer, the cost of immediate changes will run over 00,000. Next season, and for several seasons thereafter, a corresponding sum will be appropriated for improvements. "There has been too much thinking baclc to the old days of racing," Harding pointed out. "Tradition is a fine thing as far as the racing itself is concerned, and we have rec- ognizedi that by reviving such of old Washington Parks stake races as fitted into a modern program. But in the comforts and conveniences of the racing plant, we must meet the conditions of today. No orie can spend a realjy pleasant afternoon at a race track built according to the standards of fifty years ago, any more than the man or woman of 1935 would care to live in an antiquated house. "In the old days of racing the sport was for the few. The old-time plungers the Pittsburgh Phils, the Bet-a-Million Gateses, the Chicago OBriens would have waded through mud up to their knees to get 6 to 5 against an even money shot. Many of them preferred to stand in the infield to watch the horses run. But today racing is an amusement, a chance to spend a pleasant day in interesting surroundings. "Modern racegoers demand convenience, and we are installing improvements that will give it to them. Chicago racegoers demand the best horses; we have arranged for that with a rich stake schedule and a guaranteed ,000 purse minimum. Add courteous officials and employes to that, and I do not see how Chicagos new era in racing can fail to be successful." -A
