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WOMEN OWNERS NUMEROUS Almost as Many Feminine Owners at Shreveport as There are Men Enthusiastic Rooters. N SHREVEPORT, La., Nov. 9. In recent years women have been taking increasing interest in racing all over the country and the interest of the fair sex at Shreveport in the sport is no less evident, as can be seen in the numbers of them who attend the local Fair Grounds track. Not only have women been showing their enthusiasm for the sport by attending the races, but as well have entered the ranks of owners on as pretentious a scale as men and in as great numbers. The record books will show that women have headed the lists of money-winning owners for three of the last four years. Through the exploits of Seabiscuit, Mrs. Charles S. Howard was the leading owner on the turf last year. The horses which in 1937 carried her silks won a total of 14,559. The year before Mrs. Ethel V. Mars, whose horses perform under the now de course of the Milky Way Farm, was the leading owner, her racers having accounted for 06,450. Mrs. Mars, one of the most lavish purchasers of yearlings at the annual Saratoga sales, was beaten out only narrowly for top money-winning honors last year. LEADER IN 1935. Alfred G. Vanderbilt owned the most successful stable of-1935, but in 1934 it was Mrs. Isabel Dodge Sloanes Brookmeade Stable which topped the list with earnings of 51,-138. It was in that year that Cavalcade won immortal turf fame by winning the Kentucky Derby under the Brookmeade banner. Another woman who has never been fortunate enough to head the list of owners but who is acknowledged the first lady of racing is Mrs. Payne Whitney. For years she has raced one of the most pretentious stables in America and recently was signally honored by being the first woman ever invited to attend the annual dinner of the Thoroughbred Club of America as the honor guest. Even here at the Shreveport track there are nearly as many women owners of horses as men and hardly a day goes by that a horse carrying the colors of a fair sex does not get home in front. Taking cognizance of the increasing interest of women in racing, officials of the State Jockey Club have set aside the remaining Mondays and Thursdays of the meeting as Ladies Day, and on these occasions they will be admitted to the Fair Grounds track free of charge.
