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Santa Anitas New Major Improvement Program of ,500,000 in Full Swing Furnish 5,000 More Seats * » In Addition to Grandstand; Turf Course Taking Shape ARCADIA, Calif., May 25. — Installation of the ,500,000 new major improvements at Santa Anita Park is reported in full progress by Los Angeles Turf Club, Inc. When completed for next winters seventeenth racing season, it will furnish 5,000 more seats in the third addition to the grandstand, augment racing facilities with a one and one-half mile turf course, and provide more benches and public services in the expansion of the paddock. This represents the most extensive of Santa Anitas yearly improvements programs. The policy of expansion of facilities has resulted in greatly increased attendance and volume of pari-mutuel wagering. Turf Club officials point out it has made possible 10 times more direct revenue to the state than for the inaugural 1934-35 meeting, and the daily average purses to the horsemen are now more than six times the daily average of the first meeting. Substantial increases in employment and wages paid have also been recorded. On the other hand, the increase in the size of operations and the volume of pari-mutuel wagering at Santa Anita Park has not reflected itself in any substantial increase to Los Angeles Turf Club, Inc., the club reports. Foundations have been poured for the reinforced concrete-and-steel construction for the extension of the grandstand, which will add 241 feet on the track side with an angle of 30 feet toward the home-stretch turn and 261 feet on the paddock side. The predesigned plan to conform to the present buildings calls for an entrance ramp from the enlarged paddock gardens to an escalator on the first floor, similar to the escalator on the east end of the grandstand. Santa Anitas new turf course is now taking definite shape as the result of intensive work since the close of the last meeting. It reveals that part of the course will be on the hillside across the track and on rolling ground to cross the present dirt track at the stretch turn to the infield oval inside the mile strip. The layout is to be comparable to famous turf courses of continental Europe and will permit races on the grass at distances up to 1 V2 miles. The infield oval soon will be ready to be planted with Merion blue grass. The laborious job of extending the three infield subways 85 feet, so that they will be under the new course, is completed and level grading is about finished. The width of the course will be 65 feet with a 15 -foot space between it and the present mile track. Grading has started on the hillside above the backstretch approach to the far turn. It will provide an almost level three-eighths mile, 90-foot wide straightaway, with the start by the old Lucky Baldwin adobe house; thence, on 65-foot wide grass footing, the horses will disappear briefly behind a clump of oak trees to a sweeping turn on rolling ground, reaching the crossing of the dirt track at the homestretch turn to make the once-around of the infield oval. Santa Anitas concept of a turf course will be entirely new in America as it will be a combination of racing in the infield, , as presented in this country, and on high, , rolling ground, which is so popular in i Europe, Australia and other countries. The ; public will be able to see every bit of the ; race, except for the brief moments when i the horses round the grove of trees, and 1 much of the race will be presented as if f the horses are on a stage. , , i ; ; i 1 f Karim finished third. Decorated was next. 1 The disappointment of the Will Rogers 1 was the failure of Chanlea to finish closer. He, too, broke a little slowly, but he could ; never reach a contending position. Imbros first major test over a route will 1 come in the Cinema Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth on June 13 and in that event he will get an opportunity against Alis Gem who is generally rated the best ; three-year-old in training right now in California. J The Will Rogers last Saturday shared the spotlight with another sprint, the six-fur -. long Hollywood Premiere Handicap for older horses. This event went to Mrs. Ada L. Rices Pet Bully, ridden by Willie Shoe-L maker. With 120 pounds on his back, the Rice five-year-old won in just about the same fashion that Imbros did. He swung into the lead entering the homestretch and pulled clear to win by a length and a half. Big Noise was second to him with Blue Trumpeter third. Pet Bullys time for the three-quarters was 1:10V?. Both of last Saturdays feature were 5,- 000 added events.
