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California By Oscar Otis Conejo Readies Replica of Hollywood Natty New Training Oval Open July 15 Novel Way of De-racetracking Horses HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., June 4. At least a partial, and certainly pleasant solution to southern Californias both off- and in-season training problems is on the way to bemg provided by a new replica of Hollywood Park under construction at the Conejo Ranch of Ed Janss Jr., and Dr. Jack L. Robbins. Bulldozers have just finished grading the half-mile oval, with chute, and the track will be ready for use by July 15. Plans and specifications of Hollywood were made available to Conejo by Jim Stewart and his track superin- tendent, Tony Hanson, which have been faithfully followed except for a reduction in circumference. Soil for the track surface and sub-surface will be almost the same as that used at Hollywood, Conejo moving it in by the millions of yards from the same lode near the beach at Port Hueneme was used to surface Hollywood, and which is still used for replenishment. A training barn at Conejo will come a little later, but in the meantime, foremen and grooms with horses to be placed in training can be accommodated with suitable housing in nearby Thousand Oaks. Coordinate Project With Equine Clinic "We arent setting up at the moment as a true training track," explains Janss, "but we do hope to cut down considerably on the time needed on the track to get a horse ready for starting. The training track j ties into our veterinary clinic, and when we have a horse to be fired or otherwise treated and rested, his preliminary legging up and galloping can be accom- - plished right at the farm. This process will relieve stall pressure at the tracks. The clinic itself has just about all the equine patients at the moment it can handle, and we are hurrying expansion work on that part of our integrated farm operation, too. We thought we had built sufficiently large to take care of our patrons for the next few years, but already we need more room. And we are pleased, too, that so many big name horses in need of repairs, either major or minor, have been among Dr. Robbins first clinic clients." Swirling Abbey, second by a nose to Sir William in the Santa, Anita Derby and winner of the Del Mar Futurity through disqualification is among the recent check-ins at Conejo. A visit to Conejo last week end uncovered "something new under the sun" to coin a phrase, in the refinement of a procedure that is gaining considerable favor in California in speeding the process of "de-spooking" or "re-racetracking" a horse arriving at the farm for treatment. Usually, when a horse is sent from the track to the farm, he arrives keyed up, and normally it takes up to a week of walking and pasture to cool him out to the placid pace of farm life. The exact length of time depends upon the horse, but the walking is a must-because just turning said horse out in the pasture most often sees him run himself ragged. The Janss-Robbins system sees the let-down procedure accomplished in about an hour. An arrival from the track is introduced to a sanded, circular ring, with high walls. There isnt a projection on this oval fence upon which the horse can hurt himself. He usually gallops around for a spell, but he is in tine solitude, for" he cant see out to nearby activity. The horse soon discovers there is no particular future, settles down and makes the best of it, and when taken out and put in pasture, conducts himself normally from that moment. As we say, these cool-out tanks, of which Conejo now has four, are only a refinement of an old idea, which we first saw in use on an extensive scale in Europe. Ultimate in Accommodations for Stallions Still another innovation at Conejo is the construction of stallion barns with Lanais, which to our eastern readers is Hawaiian for covered, outdoor patio, but a word adopted as western American for our outdoor type living. A sire at Conejo has his choice of indoors, a roofed and two walled porch which in effect is in the open air except that it is shaded and somewhat protected from the elements, or out in a spacious open grass area. Observations have shown the sire makes considerable use of all three alternatives. Janss himself hates the euphemism of "inclement weather" insisting that when it is inclement at Conejo, it actually is raining. And when it rains, a stallion has indicated he finds the Lanai most desirable, for he gets all the fresh air he needs, or wants, but doesnt get wet Factually, it is going the stallion barns with breezeways and super-ventilation just a step further. Janss claims no particular credit for the Lanais, which are costly, other than to indicate it just a part of the improvement program at Conejo designed to make it the ultra in thoroughbred appeal. The Janss-Robbins farm improvement program has a five-year range, although two years work at the outset was compressed into one so the farm is "presentable as is at the moment." But a vast expansion program is under way including the seeding and fencing of new paddocks which encompasses a four-year rotation plan of same. In other words, only three-fourths of the farm will be in use for thoroughbreds any given year, with the fourth part plowed, sweetened, Certtinutd en Page Forbr CALIFORNIA 1 By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Paae Four and reseeded. Hence every year there will be new stands of pasture available. Janss and Robbins hold with the Irish that plowing and reseeding is the most desirable method of thoroughbred farming as against the pretty much now discredited school of thought which insisted that no field should ever be plowed. With the completion of the training track, the farm operation will be divided into three distinct components, the race track type care clinic supervised by Dr. Robbins,-the breeding-broodmare, foal-raising program in the joint care of Dr. Weeden P. Humphreys, broodmare specialist of Ventura County and Bill Walters, brilliant young thoroughbred farm careerist from Louisville, plus the postoperative-early training program of graduates from the clinic and en route back to the racing wars.
