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I AURORA TURF NOTES I e s "Butsey" Hernandez, widely known horseman who yearly races at Aurora, will be back again this year. "Butsey" has retired the pride of his stable, Captain Joy, a favorite in the past with hundreds of Chicago turf patrons. Transmutable and Zekiel, holders of five and one-half furlongs and three-quarters of a mile track records at Aurora, respectively, will be seen in action during the meeting. The former established the record in 1935, the latter one year later. Sammy Roberts, who rode with much success here last year, and Joe Stampfel, promising apprentice, will don silks. They were school mates in Kansas City, Kan. Chicago turf fans will see a fast-breaking two-year-old in N. I. Casbeers Wayward Boy, trained by J. W. Crutchfield. Crutch-fields biggest problem with the juvenile is finding a boy to keep him on his course when he hits the turn with his blinding burst of speed. Approximately 250 horses are quartered in their barns awaiting the abatement of the past two days snow to start their preliminary training for the opening of the twenty-four-day meeting on May 2. Track superintendent Placide Frigerio says that he will have the racing strip, which underwent a successful resoiling process last season, in tip-top shape for training purposes forty-eight hours after the break into clear weather. Racing secretary Dick Leigh announced Saturday that all of the 900 stalls available had been applied for and that he expected requests for approximately 300 more head. The problem is where to put them if they ship without notice. "Butsy" Hernandez, popular New Orleans horseman who annually races here, Saturday wired that he will ship his string of nineteen from the Fair Grounds on April 15. The Hernandez contingent will be one of the largest on the grounds. Clarence Davison got in the first part of this week with an even dozen, including Chance Ray, one of the sensations of the winter at the Fair Grounds. All are in fine fettle and entirely recovered from the wreck last winter that threw most of them out of training for several months. Jockey Henry Hauer has recovered from the almost fatal spill he suffered three weeks ago at the Fair Grounds and is at his home in Arlington Heights awaiting the opening bugle. Hauer will do the bulk of the riding for his contract employer Clarence Davison. The work on the new "tote" is rapidly approaching conclusion. The conduits under the infield are entirely completed and workmen are now concentrated on the installation of the huge electric infield board and the smaller one under the grandstand. Work will go forward early this week in raising the judges stand five feet higher in order that the judges and stewards will bo able to see over the "tote" board on the infield to the back stretch.
