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I Here and There on the Turf Gulfstream Getting Serious ; Date War Will Harm Sport Gurnett Displays Enterprise ; Jack Howard Going Strong As the start of a new year approaches, -j racing may look forwai-d to the operation of several new tracks, the first of which prom- ises to be Gulfstream Park, near Hollywood, Fla., whose opening is promised for January -j 18. . . . Construction of the course is going steadily ahead as arc other plans, such as -j selection of officials and formation of the condition book. . . . That racing at Gulfstream ever would come to pass was doubted by this department, but with the change in -j control to a group of New Englanders ana -j other promoters the construction has progressed without interruption, and until something happens, the southeastern portion - of Florida will be seeing a date war within a few weeks. Needless to say, the sport can -only suffer from such situations, and what -will be done about it remains to be seen. Promoters of Gulfstream are to be commended for their courage, but whether for their wisdom remains to be seen. For its inaugural meeting, Gulfstream is not stepping too far out on the limb. Most of the purses will be of the 00 order, and . the material likely to be available hardly will be that to be found at the major tracks. The problem confronting the Gulfstream ; promoters is successful competition with Hialeah Park, with the sort of sport that ; only can be forthcoming from low grade horses. Hialeah has a good solid program of purses and an attractive stakes schedule as well as a tradition full grown from sue- ; cessful operations for many years. Florida may have enough visitors to make profitable operation of the two tracks possible, but the competition will do neither much good. The iliami Jockey Club can be expected to strive to the utmost to protect its position in the face of the invader, which is only natural, and if Gulfstream is to be successful it will pe only after a strong fight. Just when he had reached the point of making Agawam a worthwhile racing point for horses of modest caliber, Don Gurnett had to encounter adverse legislation, but far from being downhearted he has taken over the half mile track at Great Barrington, which is in that section of Massachusetts ; near the populous vicinity of Albany and L Troy in New York. With the popular and I hard working Eddie Mack as an associate, , Gurnett plans to make Great Barrington a l second Agawam, and he appears to have a l fine opportunity to succeed. Because Saratoga, the country in which Great Barrington - is situated is not exactly a stranger to horse racing the educational handicap . will not have to be overcome. Sport on l the order of that at the Maryland half mile i tracks is contemplated and there seems no reason why Great Barrington will not be able to draw enough horses to fill the daily r programs. Jack Howard, the loquacious Texas-Ken-tuckian, . is making hay while the sun shines, to use a back country expression. The former . jockey not only has the horses hes 3 training for Ben Whitaker, the Dallas owner, in the sharpest of condition, but he has insured the victories of his runners to the fullest extent by having Eddie Arcaro ride i l them as often as possible. Consequently, the Howard-trained thoroughbreds have cut a t Wide swath in Tropical Park racing so far I and they now command an unusual amount 1 of respect from the public, whether they 7 handicap highly or not. Howard always has 5 been a good horseman, as a jockey and since I then. Its hasnt been his fortune as yet c to develop a high class horse, but hes s brought out numerous good ones and in his s connection with Whitaker may soon have c the opportunity of putting the saddle on a favorite in one of the outstanding attractions. The suggested special at Hialeah Park, embracing Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Stagehand, Lawrin, Pasteurized and Dauber, hardly will be staged, or otherwise some e definite announcement of it by an official of f the Miami Jockey Club would have been n made by now. Word comes from Columbia a that Seabiscuit is soon to be on his way to o Santa Anita and he certainly would not leave e the South Carolina training grounds if the e Hialeah race was in the making. Although h the weights for the Widener Challenge Cup P arent due from racing secretary Charles J. r. McLennan until January 4, Seabiscuits connections t- must be satisfied the opportunities s Offered by the 0,000 race arent as attractive as those in the 00,000 event. Inability y Of all the horses mentioned for the Hialeah h Special to be in complete readiness for the e event at its proposed running in mid-February i- may have been the obstacle that couldnt t be overcome.
