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U j Here and There on the Turf j Final New York Meeting Opens j Today j Empire to Have Better Horses j Narragansett Reopens Friday J , "River Downs Is Making Good i Americas racing scenes are constantly shifting and the. new week finds the sport gone, from Long Island for the year, with the exception of the United Hunts program at Belmont election day and starting at Empire City today for the final meeting of the season on the metropolitan circuit Jamaica has just concluded one of the best terms of racing in its history, excellent weather having prevailed for a good portion of the two weeks and the crowds consistently were larger than they have been for any autumn meeting at the Metropolitan Jockey Club course in years. Excellent sport has been the order since the opening, which undoubtedly has proven a strong factor in the success of the meeting. New York has held the good horses better during the current campaign than has been customary, even with the close of Belmont Park. Formerly the better stables headed south with the close of Belmont, even when that track operated during the first two weeks of September, but the many changes made in the conduct of New York racing has caused the owners to change their minds. Empire City is in excellent condition for its opening and the meeting will get under way as though it had been in operation for weeks. AH stabling accommodations at the Yonkers course have been allotted, some of the space being taken by several of the more prominent stables, which seldom before have remained in New York so late in the season. This augurs well for the success of Empire Citys autumn run and the weather should be the deciding factor. The Butler track ever has been one of the best money makers in the country because of its clientele. Its location makes it possible for Empire to cater to a very large number of racing enthusiasts who find the trip to the Long Island tracks too long to malic every day, and they await the meetings at the Yonkers course for their enjoyment of the sport. Rockingham Park, whose patronage has perked up considerably since a moderate opening week, closes its gates for the year Thursday and on the following day Walter OHara puts Narragansett Park back in operation for its third and last term of the rv-jr Featuring racing at the Pawtucket bourse will be the first running of the 5,000 added New England Futurtty. for which acknowledged leader of the two-vcar-old Fompoon. division, and other star members of Ct d vteion. including Billionaire arc being rented Tlic Futurity is scheduled for K i..rinv October 28, and a good crowd mWhXc because New Engenders turn Zt ft Mtra large numbers to jcc good JUt- .nrlor. but the record attendance rrbected on Armistice Day if the: HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF .Continued from second page. weather is at all decent. Perhaps Narra-gansett will duplicate its million dollar play of Labor Day on the holiday commemorating the ending of the World War. Silvio Coucci, whose" riding this season has been so dismal that his contract with the GreentreetStable was not renewed, is doing better at Laurel, and as the Bronx Italian regains confidence in himself he may again take his place among the ranking jockeys of the country. After he had severed connections with the Greentree Stable, Coucci entered the employ of E. R. Bradley, but he did not immediately do any riding, waiting more than a week before he swung into action at Laurel. He has had but few mounts at the Maryland course, but already he has been up on several winners, and his handling of Dearzin in the final event Thursday wa3 particularly encouraging, because Coucci kept his mount going in a long, hard drive to nose out Irish Vote. If Coucci can get over the top again he will be assured of an excellent position with Colonel Bradley, who annually has one of the strongest stables. River Downs, at which the first meeting under the management of Ed Strong and associates has been so successful that it has been extended for a week to close October 31, is holding some of the horses that had been intended for campaigning at Keeneland. Under the previous dates the two tracks, which are less than a hundred miles apart, would have closed on the same date, and several stables had intended leaving the Cincinnati track for the new course in the Blue Grass, after which they would have been transferred to Churchill Downs for the season there starting October 31. The failure to obtain the several stables expected from River Downs and the change in track conditions has caused the Keeneland fields to be below average, but improvement is expected during the lattr part of the nine-day meeting. Meanwhile patronage during the first third of the program has been quite satisfactory to the Keeneland management.
