New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-05-24
JEROME PARK OPENS ITS Gates


New-York Cty is extremely fortunate in
having within its borders grounds perfectly
adapted for almost every form oil sport, and
which nave been improved by lavish eXpcndi-
ture Of labor and money. Can any great capital
! i'm the world boast of n more picturesque and
beautiful course within its borders than our
own Jerome Park Where can be found a trot-
| ting track more convenient OF access and better
managed than the grounds of our Driving Club 7
! What baseball park in America can excel or
even equal our Polo Grounds I In facilities at
| the very doors of our people for athletic con-
tests, lacrosse rowing yachting and almost
| every form of recreation that the heart OF man
can desire this town cannot be surpassed by
| London, Paris or any other city of the Old
! World. And how eagerly our people take adj
vantage of these facilities! Every day now
| abounds with incidents ut jerome Park and the
| Morrisania track Six days in the week ball
and bat are piled at the Polo Grounds, and at
many other places rs we'll The champions Of
| the ball field are in the thick of the. combat.
! Our oarsmen and athletes grow browner and
| brawnier day by day. Our yachtsmcn's minds
turn from stocks and bonds from real estate
and insurance. from all the petty cares ard
vcxations of daily life, to the glad, free air of
the open sea.
On Tuesday jerome Park will open its gates
for its spring meeting, and Murray Hill will
meet on the clubhouse slopes in the gaycst of
garden parties. Conversation will be tar
livelier than ut any Assembly, F. G. ID. G. or
Patriarchs ball in the winter, for there will be
at Jerome Park in addition to the usual llirta-
tons and gossip the talk about gowns aud en-
gagemcnts. the discussion of the latest scandal
or the freshest romance, the delightful diversion
of trying to select the winners OF the Withcrs
Stakes and the Fordham Handicap, and the
thrill of admiration, enthusiasm and excitement
"a the graceful thorOughbreds with eyes flash
ing, every muscle strained aud every nerve
thrObbing, dash by the clubhouse and fly down
the stretch to the finish, while the crowded
grand stand grcets the winner with mighty
shout.
Every Newly Yorker who cares either for
scenery or for sport will hope that the Ameri-
can Jockey Club will not be compelled to seek
liberty of action the w-Jersey meadows
| But that the men who control il will make the
change, if persistent efforts are made to
cripple the racing by suppressing every form
of speculation, admits of no doubt. The Pool
bill failed to pass the Legislature. Some of the
members were strongly opposed to it from con-
sccntiOus conviction. Others were Indifferent
but might have been persuaded if reasoned
with in the right way. Still others were deter
mined that the bill should not become law
unless its passage filled their pockets. But better
far that the bill should fail than that it shou d
be carried through by corrupt means It
might have succeeded without any bribery. if
n few experienced and energetic legislators
in each house had taken the matter in hand
with the determination to push it through.
But after all, our great jockey clubs have only
themselves to blame for the embarrassments
that now surround them. All the trouble comes
from the pest-hole at Brighton Beach with its
hundred days in the year of three-card-monte
thimble-rigging races, and its daily tempta-
tions to ofice-bOys and boOt-backs to steal in
order to buy the low-priced tickets in its field
pools. Its daily contests of broken kneed
muscle-bound, wheezy hacks have been the
chief stimulus and support of the sneaking pool
rooms which infest the side streets of this city
and encourage embezzlement, forgery and
theft. The number of boys and young men who
have stolen money in order to DeS on the
Brighton races is appalling. The track during
the season is the favorite resort of the lowest