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Ak-Sar-Ben Making ! Ready for Top Meet Omaha Track Expects Best Horses in Its History to Race; 15,000 in Purses OMAHA, Nebr.. May 10.— With the ar-j rival of Nebraskas spring weather. Ak-Sar-Ben officials are busily preparing for the opening of the civic organizations 35-day meeting at the Omaha track on Thursday. May 19. Ak-Sar-Ben general manager J. J. Isaac-ison has announced a liberal increase in the tracks purse distribution for the 1955 ! meeting. Isaacson said the over-all purse distribution this year will be approximately 15,000, which exceed* by 5,000 last years record total of 50,000. "The inquiries we have received from horsemen throughout the country indicates that we are going to have the best class of horses in our history, and we are raising our purse sights accordingly," . Isaacson said. A policy of "better purses for better horses" will be followed with a minimum purse of ,700, the highest in Ak-Sar-Ben s history. The condition book covering the first 12 | days of the meeting has been out for some time and includes three overnight handicaps of ,000 each: six purse races of ,500 each; two at ,400; six at ,300: I four at ,200; seven at 100: 11 at I ,000; 13 at ,900; 14 at S1.800 and 30 1 at ,700. j Isaacson said there had been many | favorable comments on the plan of racing I j secretary Ken Mcintosh to divide the competition I so three-year-olds can race against each other and not be compelled to ■ go against older and stronger horses. Stakes Listed Ak-Sar-Bens stakes schedule this year includes the sixth running of the ,000-added J. E. Davidson Memorial Handicap on June 18th; the ,000-added Ak-Sar-Ben Futurity for Nebraska-bred-two-year- j olds on June 24th; the eighth running of I the ,000-added George Brandeis Memo- I j rial Handicap on June 25th; the ,000-1 . I Added Nebraska Breeders Special for Nebraska-foaled three-year-olds on June 28: i the fifth running of the ,000-added Ak-1 Sar-Ben Juvenile Stakes on June 29: the ■ | third running of the ,000-added Omaha ii i Handicap on July 2, and the fifth running [I j of the 0,000-added Ak-Sar-Ben Handicap on July 4, closing day of the meeting. Ak-Sar-Bens official family will see ! many new faces this year at Omahas West | Center Street oval. Ken W. Mcintosh, who | has been racing secretary at Oaklawn Park the past three seasons, will fill that post at Ak-Sar-Ben succeeding the late Richard A. Leigh, Sr. Noel "Chile" Chil-cutt. v/ho had been starter at Ak-Sar-Ben for 16 years, will move up to the post of 1 i 1 director* of racing and also will serve as 1 a member of the board of stewards. Also j on the board of stewards at Ak-Sar-Ben I ; ; will be Jack S. Young who will come di- : | rectly to Omaha from Churchill Downs where he serves as Kentucky state . steward. ! W. R. "Bill" Mills, starter at Santa j Anita and Del Mar and a former Ak-Sar-Ban . i starter, has joined the Ak-Sar-Ben official family and he will dispatch the , I fields. Patrol judges will be Eddie Champagne , i and Johnny Hernandez. "Hank Mills will! I I serve as paddock judge and John "Red" i Watkins will return as clerk of the scales. j Film Patrol to Be Used Numerous improvements will greet horsemen and patrons alike at the f riendly Midwestern track. The film patrol system, i installed by Thorobred Photo Service. Inc.. I of Culver City, Calif., will be used here j | for the first time this year. The 16-millimeter . | movie cameras will be operated by ,. j j the track which will use its own technicians, . specially trained in television work. ! The newest innovation in the film system 1 1 will be employed at Ak-Sar-Ben to make ■ the service the speediest yet developed. A [ ! closed circuit television channel from the ■ i laboratory to the stewards stand on the roof, puts the action film on the stewards | television monitor set less than two minutes . j after the courier delivers it from the 5 1 camera towers. j Further improvements in the stabling . area include the removal of three old barns I to make way for a large, horsemens auto j park, and a modern new barn of the same • type constructed at Ak-Sar-Ben the past I two years. The new automatic sprinkler r system, a part of Ak-Sar-Bens long range , program for the added protection of horsemen and their horses, has been spread over a still further area of the spacious grounds. The old horsemens cafe, torn down to 3 make way for a parking lot in the stabling t area, has been replaced by a fine, modern new concrete block cafe. The 10.000-seat grandstand is now completely equipped j with the new comfortable, stadium-type e seats: the old stewards stand, formerly f on the lawn level at the finish line, has s been replaced by a new all steel structure e on the roof of the grandstand; there are e new improvements in the jockey quarters, ;, and a spacious buffet lounge is now being Z built in the grandstand area once occupied i by the old indoor paddock. Ak-Sar-Ben racing committee chairman - James P. Lee and members Melvin i e f s e e ;, Z i - i Bekins and E. F. Pettis have announced that the Omaha track will continue its many fine features which have gained it the reputation of being one of the finest and most popular mile tracks between Chicago and the Pacific Coast. Racing days again will be Tuesdays through Saturdays, with no racing on Sundays and Mondays except holiday Mondays, May 30 and July 4.
