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., j Here and There j on the Turf j Winter Season Is at Hand j New England Sport Survives Troubles j Maryland Tracks Co-Operate j j I ; Silverette Keeps on Winning j When the savory odor of roasting turkey Is in the air, its time to realize the opening of the New Orleans season is at hand, also the beginning of winter racing anywhere. For many years Thanksgiving Day has marked the start of racing in the Louisiana metropolis, and Thursday is no exception. Not so long ago, Jefferson Park was the track offering Thanksgiving Day sport, but when Joseph Cattarinich, Robert S. Eddy and associates took over the Fair Grounds, two tracks were not necessary, and one entire New Orleans season now is staged at the latter course, one of the most I picturesque in the country. Racing at the j I I Crescent City plant will be offered all winter long, or from Thursday until Saturday, March 25, according to present plans. That will amount to a lot, but New Orleans knows how to assimilate it. During the 113 or more days meeting, some twenty-three features have been programmed with the principal attraction, as usual, being the Louisiana Derby, for three-year-olds, at a mile and one furlong. Again the sum of 2,000 will be added to the Derby, so no valid reason exists right now why it shouldnt lure another good field. Weve long thought New Orleans racing would be I better off with the oral method of wagering rather than pari-mnutuels, but the latter is in vogue and will continue so. The Fair Grounds provides a variation, however, in its morning line betting which permits patrons to accept set prices before the days racing starts, and this feature has proved popular at the New Orleans course, although it has its drawbacks in some respects. Nevertheless, another Fair Grounds meeting is at hand, the place is alive with horses and the personnel that goes with them, and local conditions need only be satisfactory for the season to prove successful. From .April to November, approximately seven months, racing has been offered daily at a New England track. Even a hurricane "failed to halt the presentation of the sport, although it did its best to wreck two of the three principal tracks and left the populace in a position where they couldnt devote as much attention to the sport. Perhaps the Greater Boston area has had too much racing for one season, but the re-election found the sport continuing in good favor as far as Suffolk Downs is concerned. Thoroughbred I and dog racing were voted out in the county containing Agawam, however, and just at a time when that likely track in the Berkshires was doing some good for itself. Perhaps dog racing was to blame, but whatever the reason, the negative vote should be construed as a warning to the operators of Suffolk Downs, Narragansett and Rockingham Parks. The most solid state in the Union having pari-mutuel wagering is Maryland, and the reason is not difficult to understand, especially when the four major tracks can get together from year to year so easily and arrange their schedules. Next season the program will pursue the usual pattern, because the tracks know how they wish their twenty-five days of sport to be divided and the state racing commission will agree with them. Business has been off in Maryland this Continued on fifteenth page. HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page. past season, however, and we rather suspect some of the big track operators blame the drop on the expansion of half-mile racing within the state. In other words, the strength of Maryland racing has been its concentration, but competition within from the half-milers and without from Delaware Park seems to have altered this situation somewhat. An unsung heroine of the turf is Silver-ette, the daughter of Vandergrift and Lou-vain, by Marta Santa, which races for her breeder, the veteran Garrett Watts of Lexington. At eight years of age, Silverette is old as far as flat racers are concerned, especially if they are of the feminine gender, but irregardless she still possesses much of the speed of her younger days. Although never a top sprinter, Silverette could run very fast within her class, and she did it frequently. Her victory in the closing day feature at Narragansett Park was her sixth of the year in eighteen starts. Last season she won several of twenty-nine starts, and likewise back through her career. The Watts veteran perhaps should have been retired to the breeding pastures long ago, but that she wasnt doesnt alter the fact that she has maintained her speed and durability through the years.
