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JUDGES STAND By Charles Hafton Many Improvements at Washington Model Track Kitchen PumpRoom OReilly Imbibes Maryland Mickey Free Staters Make Juleps With Rye RyeYour Your correspondent was one of a casually assembled group of fourth estaters who accompanied Ben Lindheimer on an inspection tour of Washington Park the other afternoon The improvements which have been effected in this picturesque park show that t racks can achieve a good deal with wartime restric ¬ tions merely by exer ¬ cising a litle ingenuity Probably the most am bitious project was the reconstruction of the racing surface The topsoil was scraped toward the fences and a new substrata of clay applied to the strip The centerfield lakes into which the track drains were cut deeper and a system of pipes installed to carry off the water from the course There should be no re ¬ currence of the unpleasant incident at Washington last Summer when a deluge transformed the track Into an ideal setting for the HarvardYale regatta and there was some imminence the meet would be in ¬ terrupted by a jockeys strike Washing ¬ tons carriage trade doubtless will ap ¬ preciate the rather unique airconditioning arrangement in the clubhouse box section A series of screened apertures beneath each row of boxes serves as a vent through which the cool air from under the stand may circulateThe placards above the tote sellers and cashiers windows have been stippled bright orange green and red so that lastminute bettors may more readily distinguish the denomination of tickets dispensed and fewer of them will be con ¬ fused and wind up in the wrong lines linesA A very important sociological change is taking place on the back stretch at the Homewood park For instance there is the gleaming new track kitchen This is one of the clubs proudest boasts It is our con ¬ viction after inspecting this flossy restaurant that Lucius Beebe is just frittering away his time and talents in the bourgeois bistros along The Great White Way It is no exagger ¬ ation to say that in contrast to this kitchen those at most other tracks look rather like opium dens decor ¬ ated with flypaper In this at ¬ mosphere it would not be at all sur ¬ prising if stablemen took to dressing for dinner dinnerLocated Located just across the road from the kitchen is a slightly smaller green and white frame structure that is being con ¬ verted into a bar When it is completed this cool modernistic little retreat will have all the fascination of the Loops stylish pumprooms It is exclusively for parched racetrackers will be closed promptly at 9 p m and patrons who be ¬ come unduly boisterous under the alcoflu ence of incohol will be given the old heaveho This Stablemens Stork Club doubtless will eliminate sordid trackside places In addition to investing thousands of dollars in a new kitchen and bar Wash ¬ ington Park has improved the plumbing about the stables repaired the domitories and sown grass seed between the shed rows It is somehow refreshing to find a club that regards grooms and exerciseboys as people peopleAny Any mention of Washingtons tony pub reminds that we are becoming a bit anxious about our friend Tom OReilly Despite repeated warnings that Marylanders make mint juleps with rye OReilly heedlessly imbided a dram or so of this witches brew about Preakness time Evidently the poor fellow still is under some subtle hypnosis How else can one account for his lurid suggestions that Mary landers make smoother juleps than do Kentuokians Marylanders are more hospitable than are Kentuck ians Now anybody knows that corn squeezins are the only fit fixins for a julep and so far as horesmanship is concerned we reflect that Blue Grassonians have not yet found it necessary to resort to races exclu ¬ sively for Kentuckybred horses What we should like to know is who slipped OReilly this Maryland Mickey and sabotaged his tastebuds The culprit should be submitted to the bastinado and reduced to watch fobs We will bet the glass contain ¬ ing this revolting concoction was not even frosted Down in Kentucky rye is sold only at garages and hardware stores as a kind of ersatz battery acid and machine oil To drink It is unthinkable
