view raw text
I ! 1 " 1 " 1 " - 2 1 f " 1 3 " 1 " 1 e Las Vegas Plant Highly Attractive Location Near City Makes It Ideal; Only Four Inches Of Rainfall in Area Yearly By LEO FUERST Staff Correspondent LAS VEGAS, Nev., Aug. 28. When the Las Vegas Jockey Club throws open the gates to its new plant on Friday, September 4, the eager patrons may not gasp with astonishment or admiration, but it will only be because the majority of them will have seen it in its various stages of construction and have become accustomed to the fact that one of the most complete and attractive turf establishments in America has been built within two miles of the heart of this remarkable tourist city. Last Friday the contractors, the McNeil Construction Company, turned over to president Lou Smith a plant complete with everything but the final finishing touches and the result elicited nothing but praise from horsemen and Nevada residents who had been invited to inspect the results. Situated as it is, only about one-half mile off the fabulous "strip" with its galaxy of luxurious hotels, motels, and restaurants, there will be almost no transportation problem involved in the operation as the site can be reached over numerous wide, well paved streets. And theres one thing the local residents will almost guarantee that the streets and roads will never be muddy during those months when racing will be conducted. For Las Vegas gets an average of only four inches of rain annually and most of this four inches is concentrated into one or two heavy downpours during a very brief season in July and August. At least, thats what the home-folks say. At any rate one can confidentially expect a consistently "fast" racing strip and a corresponding consistency in the performance of the horses. Safe and Fast Race Strip While on the subject of the racing strip it can be said that quite a number of horsemen, who made the trip here last Sunday as guests of the management, believe it will be one of the safest and fastest in the country once a little water has been put on it and the soil packs down a bit. Donald McDonald, the inventor of the scarifer or track conditioner which bears his name, told this writer that the topping on this strip is practically unique since there are many places in America where this type of material could be used without prohibitive costs for transportation. It is a type of fine silt which the winds have carried to the surrounding area and deposited in deep beds in some of the mountain canyons. It makes a deep and springy cushion which he declares will never cup or get lumpy. The main track is a full mile in circumference with two chutes, one for distance events and the other for six-furlong races. The grandstand and clubhouse, designed by Froelich and Williams, the famous race track architects, are attractive and commodious and built entirely of steel and concrete. They are of a predominently rose color with trim in gray and white. The grandstand has a seating capacity of 3,800, all in theater-type seats. A separate structure houses the clubhouse on the first floor and the Turf Club above. They will have capacities for seating 1,200 and 600, respectively. Additional seating in the lounges, on the lawn, etc., will raise the total seats available to about 6,000. Under the grandstand roof is suspended the press box and a box for the placing judges. Above the roof itself is the photo-finish camera installation. The two separate buildings, grandstand and clubhouse, are connected with a wide, elevated bridge and on the ground immedi-: ately behind this bridge is the theater-type paddock, easily accessible from all sides. In both structures, the aisles and stairways are wide and the lounging and pari-mutuel areas very commodious. The stable area has at present 640 com- plete stalls with more to be constructed in the near future. There are 16 separate barns, each barn being divided by fire walls into four "sections, each with 10 stalls. The tack rooms are all separated from the horse quarters by fire walls. The stable cafeteria, racing secretarys office and other small building in the area are all built of concrete bricks and atop the cafeteria is a fire watchers tower. The whole plant gets an ample water supply from artesian wells within its boundaries. All the buildings, in-s eluding tack rooms in which tack personnel -work or live, are air conditioned. The public stands, open to the breeze in all directions, are, of course, not air conditioned but they are surprisingly cool on even the hottest days. The Australian "tote" including the Daily Double ticket seller will be in use, Continued m Am Fifty-One Las Vegas Track One of Most Complete Plants in America Continued from Page Six also the Oswald Photo-finish Camera. The parking area, all blacktopped, will handle 3,000 cars at present and there is room to extend this, if necessary, for many additional thousands.
