view raw text
MAGIC STEWARDS STAND New Pagoda at Santa Anita Can Be J Made to Disappear. Officers Vantage Point Constructed So, As to Sink Into Ground to Give Clear View. j ARCADIA, Calif., Dec. 24. With the rac- J I ing strip at Santa Anita returning to normal I , and yielding to the steady harrowing and work of the track crew, training activities 5 took on added impetus. With the Santa Anita opening just a week off, no time was lost in preparing the many performers scheduled to fill early engagements. Several I candidates for the 0,000 added California Breeders Stakes, feature race on Saturdays inaugural program, which will engage the outstanding performers from among the California-foaled two-year-olds were among the several score horses worked, i In addition to the brisk training, other busy scenes were enacted, particularly the 1 arrival of more horses and preparations for the meeting furnished plenty of action. Horsemen filed a great many stable registrations and license applications during the day, racing secretary Webb Everett and his ; assistants being kept going at top speed most of the day handling the work of the j j duties assigned them. I Bringing the nations outstanding performers of the various classes here to fill the stakes, handicaps and other events offered, has always been the principal notion of general manager Charles H. Strub, and this year he has hopes of arranging the strongest attractions in the several years he has directed the destinies of the famous Arcadia course. He has been busy for months making certain the right material would be on the grounds and also the environment would be as delightful as Santa Anita patrons have come to expect, COMPLETE IMPROVEMENTS. Work on the improvements started months ago, was completed several days ago and, aside from a few minor details in the salon arrangement in both the clubhouse and grandstand, decorative features and final sweeping out and the dusting of the mammoth plant, all is in readiness for Saturdays" opening. Landscaping- more beautiful than ever, is a perpetual care, with thousands of new plants being set out at frequent intervals, augmenting the natural beauty of the grounds, they provide the brighter colors of one of the real beauty spots of this magnificent racing plant. Officials and stockholders of the Los Angeles Turf Club are largely natives of this state, while most of the racing officials themselves call California their home. The track officials are interested largely in sounding out the patrons on the innovations to be introduced with this meeting. The principal physical change made was the removal of the stewards stand from its former position, and a new one erected in the infield. The new Pagoda has been built with the scheme that it "disappears" can be lowered into the ground during the running of the race, which avoids the obscuring the view of the fans, this is the first of its kind in America. The horses will now be saddled in a new paddock erected since last spring. This is among the numerous improvements which have been instituted during the lapse of racing at the palatial plant.
