view raw text
NO SHREVEPORT EXTENSION Avoid Any Possibility of Conflict With New Orleans. Sponsors of Current Meeting, Ending Saturday, Encouraged by Success Plant Modernized and Improved. SHREVEPORT, La., Nov. 15 The twenty-five-day meeting of the State Jockey Club will come to a close Saturday at the Fair Grounds course as originally scheduled, it was definitely announced by officials of the track today. Horsemen and even many fans have urged that the season be extended, but sponsors of the meeting said they have no wish to have this session conflict with the one that opens at the New Orleans Fair Grounds on Thanksgiving Day and that no overtures for an extension would be entertained. The racing division of the Louisiana State Fair Association is much pleased with the success of the present meeting and officials believe they have laid the foundation for short fall sessions annually. Horsemen have co-operated generously with the management in restoring the sport here to a high plane and their combined efforts have won the approval of thoroughbred fans throughout this section. Crowds have been larger than any in the history of racing here and the sport itself has been of the best. PLAN FOR FUTURE. Sponsors of the meeting, the first under its present management, are much encouraged with the results of their initial venture and are going forward with plans for the future. They have directed all of their energies toward presenting the sport along such lines "and that they have succeeded can be seen in the publics support. The local plant has been modernized and improved and even further improvements are to be made for next year. Capable and Widely known officials were called in to direct the racing and under their supervision fans have witnessed a brand of sport they have a right to demand. No doubt an extended meeting would be more profitable, but they feel their mission is restoring public confidence in racing here and are willing to look to the future for such additional monetary gains. The racing has been remarkably formful and clean under a corps of officials headed by Charles F. Henry as presiding steward, and the mutuel department has functioned flawlessly under the direction of George Barrett, details which have not escaped the attention of the fans and which have done much to elevate the sport to the high state it now enjoys in Shreveport.
