view raw text
AURORA TRACK MUCH SAFER Resurfaced Course May Be Slower Than in Other Years. Thirty Thousand Cubic Feet of New Soil Used to Remodel Track New Barns Ready Soon. AURORA, 111., April. 10. New track records for the six distances over which horses do most of their racing in May have been set during the last two spring meetings at Aurora, but those marks are very likely to remain intact during the Fox Valley Jockey Clubs nineteen-day term of racing, which opens the Chicago season there May 1. Authority for this prediction is Placide Frigerio, veteran track superintendent, who is in charge not only of the track at Aurora, but of those at New Orleans, Fair-mount, Thistle Down and Bainbridge. The reason is that the Aurora track has been completely resurfaced since last season with soil of a different composition than has been used in other years, and the new twelve-inch cushion is designed to be easy upon the delicate legs of the thoroughbreds racing over it rather than to permit them to set new speed marks. "Owners and trainers nowadays are much more interested in keeping their horses legs sound than in setting new track records," Frigerio points out. "With plenty of racing the year round no horseman wants to take chances on having a part of his stable out of action just to get credit for speedier races in the horses records. With the changes that have been made since the last meeting, Aurora now has one of the safest racing strips in the country for horses." Work on the track began last July. A supply of 30,000 cubic yards of new soil was secured, and all summer long a crew worked it into the track in one of the most comprehensive resurfacing jobs that has been done on an American race course in recent years. The new topsoil was given a chance to settle during the winter, and although the late spring this year has left considerable frost still in the ground, the track crew is hopeful of having the track in top condition by the middle of the week. With only three weeks remaining before the local season, the horsemen who are already on the grounds are anxious to begin asking their charges for speed in their morning drills, and the continued arrival of more horses makes it necessary to push the work of conditioning the track to the limit. The squabble over racing dates which the Illinois Racing Commission adjudicated during the past week was not permitted to interrupt preparations for the Aurora meeting, construction going forward steadily. The new mutuel plant, with the longest main betting line in the country, has been completed, and as soon as such interior changes as are needed in the new ticket room and money room have been made, the department will be ready to open the four modern barns needed to house the overflow of horses promised for the meeting will be completed within ten days, and will raise the Aurora stabling capacity to more than 1,100. There are already twenty-five barns at the Fox Valley course with more than a few of them already filled by racers which campaigned at the southern tracks, or that wintered on Illinois farms.
