Pimlico Memos: Pimlico Undecided on Turf Racing Course May Not be Ready for Fall New Facilities Relieve Crowding, Daily Racing Form, 1953-05-27

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ii.i,v,ii.!Wi-.,-,,,:.;w!...,v.:.,-t..i % ™s y Jy , Pimlico Memos By FRED GALIANI Pimlico Undecided on Turf Racing Course May Not Be Ready for Fall New Facilities Relieve Crowding PIMLICO, Baltimore, Md., May 26.— Whether there will be turf course racing or not at the fall meeting has not been decided decided yet. yet. John John ii.i,v,ii.!Wi-.,-,,,:.;w!...,v.:.,-t..i « I • • I 1 ] ; decided decided yet. yet. John John Jackson, general manager of Pimlico, in discussing the situation this morning, said : "We have no definite plans about racing over the turf this fall. I have no predetermined thoughts about it, we are not going to rush things, but let nature take its course. This is only only a a nurse nurse crop crop of of ; I I . j j j j only only a a nurse nurse crop crop of of grass on the track and we havent cut it yet. And it certainly wasnt helped any Preakness Day when the crowds burst through the fences and swarmed over the turf. They cut it up pretty good, which set us back some. That part of the grass has been well trampled and will lay dormant for awhile. We have no stakes carded over the grass. We might possibly run an overnight race or two, but that depends on the condition of the course. We are not going to rush it. As a matter of fact, our fall meeting is only a short 12 days, so that it might be wiser to wait until next spring. For a short time I didnt ever think I was going to get the course graded. Every time it stopped raining for a couple of days and it looked like the ground was hard enough to use heavy equipment on it, it would start pouring again." "I think one of the most interesting facts of Preakness day was the way the new locations of windows, especially in the clubhouse, worked. There werent too many people in the infield, except for the big race, but there werent any shutouts in the betting. The extra windows in the clubhouse kept much of the crowd over there most of the day and relieved the windows in the little clubhouse of the extra press that formerly occurred. The new passages in the grandstand that we built, eliminating a lot of tunnels and turns, also helped tremendously. People were able to get around freely and they bet early. Which is one of the reasons why we set a new record high for total handle and* a single race pool for Maryland." Horses are shipping out rapidly from Pimlico, the majority of them heading for Delaware and Detroit. Dark Tuesdays at Pimlico make the track a deserted village in the mornings. Entries for Wednesdays races are drawn Monday and the track looks like it was abandoned except for the workouts. This afternoon it was a little livelier as a crab feast was held for owners, trainers, employes and wives in the grandstand, sponsored by the Maryland Jockey Club. Mrs. Gaby Haugh, wife of the handicapper, is recuperating from an operation in Womens Hospital in Baltimore. Gaby reports that she is coming along nicely. The Maryland turf writers held a meeting in the old clubhouse after the races last evening. Early plans were formulated for the annual dinner dance of the association this coming f aU ...Jack OKeeffe, publicity director at Pimlico, left to pursue similar duties at the Cran-wood and Thistle Down race tracks near Cleveland. After those sessions he hops off to Blue Bonnets where he serves as steward . . . Pat FarreU is handling stall applications for the Hazel Park meeting this summer in Detroit . . . Freddy Martin, of the Harry M. Stevens staff, is taking in the races at Pimlico before heading to New England where he han- dies the press in the lunch room at Nar-ragansett Park. Jockey Arthur Monteiro and agent Walter Van leave soon for the Detroit meeting which opens on Thursday . . Jimmy Ross and Melvin Mackin motored out to the same spot where they will serve as officials at the coming Michigan Racing Association meeting . .The Palmer Heagertys celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary this past week . Julius Boros 70 at Oakmont for National Golf Day stopped a couple of race trackers around the Garden State section from earning one of the "I beat Boros" medals. John Kennedy, stable foreman for trainer Sid Jacobs, tied Boros with a 70. Jockeys Jimmy Stout and Herb Lindberg both had 73s. . .The director of shoeshine activities in the racing secretarys office Continued on Page Forty Pimlico Memos By FRED GALIANI Continued from Page Five is called "Black Gold", because he galloped that good horse many years ago. It is doubtful if anyone knows the fellows real name . . . Sign of a rapidly approaching summer is the news that Monmouth Parks first issue of their paper, the Monmouth Bugle, will be out June 13, opening day at the New Jersey resort track. Bill Jaeger, publicity director at Laurel, reports that he is in constant receipt of letters from Count Adrian von Borcke, who came over here with the German Nieder-lander to run in last falls Washington D. C. International. The Counts latest missive contains a request for a picture of the "start box" as Germany wants to build some starting gates. When the Count was over here last fall he lived in some cottages a couple of miles from the track and his early morning conveyances to the track were quite unusual. Always fitted out in his black homburg and carrying an umbrella, he arrived at the track in hot dog wagons, bread trucks, ice cream trucks, milk wagons or anything else that he could summon for a ride. The Count is expected to come back again with a horse for this falls International.


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Local Identifier: drf1953052701_5_4
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800