view raw text
......... . .. ...... T Here and There on he Turf Pimlico Opening Is Pleasing Big Stakes Feature Meeting Fairmount Park Will Reopen Change in Law Aids Track Pimlico opened its spring meeting of fifteen days yesterday with just an ordinary program, but the size of the crowd, and the interest shown demonstrated that the Maryland Jockey Club course is to do just as well as have Bowie and Havre de Grace, which preceded it on the Maryland circuit. No attempt was made to have a fancy opening, an allowance event for older horses serving as the feature, but that did not prevent the racing fans of Baltimore and surrounding country from turning out in large numbers. Racing will be offered on three Saturdays during the meeting, with each of these programs being featured by a stake. Tomorrow, the Baltimore Spring Handicap will top the program, and on the second Saturday the Dixie Handicap will be staged. This historic event, over the one mile and three-sixteenths distance, will have 0,000 in added money this spring and promises to attract most of the outstanding older horses in the East, a concerted effort to make the Freakness will be renewed with the munificent sum of 0,000 being added to the event, the Maryland Jockey Club having recognized the turn of good times by raising the value of its great event for three-year-olds. A fine entry list was received for the Preakness, including several which were not named for the Kentucky Derby, and their opposition to the probable stars of the Churchill Downs fixture will add much interest to the Pimlico feature. Leading citizens of Baltimore are making a concerted effort to make the Freakness more of a national event, and many social functions, including the Preakness Ball, have been planned. The Freakness Ball last spring attracted several thousand persons, and its sponsors are trying to outdo themselves this year. Numerous changes have been made in the Pimlico plant to increase and improve accommodations for the public so that a greater crowd than ever may be present for the running. A summer meeting at Fairmount Park may be expected now that the Illinois legislature has passed the bill reducing the daily license fee of tracks located in counties with less than 250,000 population and more than fifty miles from any city in the state having a population of 1,000,000 or more, from ,000 to 00, and raising the amount of commission to be retained by tracks in such counties from 8 to 9 percent. Fairmount Park is located in a county not having 250,000 residents and it is more than fifty "miles away from Chicago, the lone city in Illinois having at least a million in population. However, Fairmount Park is located but a few miles from St, Louis, which has nearly a million residents but happens to be located in the state of Missouri. Joseph Cattarinich and associates control Fairmount Park, but they closed the track when they could not operate it successfully under the terms of the Illinois law then in force. Fairmount Park has had a varied experience. Constructed a dozen years ago, it was successful during the first few years of its existence, playing an important part in racing due to its stake programs, which were headed by the 5,000 Fairmount Derby. When racing everywhere in the country dropped in interest a few years back Fair-mount was a loser, and the American Turf Association eventually sold the plant to its present owners. They havent been able to do much with the course, but have new hopes now that the Illinois law has been changed to permit Fairmount a larger take while paying a smaller license fee. The plant has been kept in good condition and could be made ready for resumption of racing in a few weeks. An announcement as to plans for Fairmount Park may be expected at any time from Cattarinich or Robert S. Eddy, Jr., who is general manager at Aurora. Mrs. Emil Denemark has selected Frank Gilpin to replace Bert Michell as the trainer pf her large and highly-successful stable, the latter having resigned several weeks ago, and she naturally hopes that her yellow and blue silks will be just as prominent as they have been for the past year or more. In Gilpin she obtained a man who has had much success as a trainer, not only with ordinary horses, but with stakes campaigners as well. The Denemark stable is well supplied with horses of both kinds. Being Chicago-owned, the stable will be campaigned at Washington and Arlington Parks this summer following the completion of the Maryland campaign, but with the close of Arlington, a division will be sent to Saratoga for the first time.
