Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-10
A START AT ALBANY.
The Grand Circuit Races Resumed nt Island
Park-A Somewhat Tame Afternoon,
but the Spectators were
Treated to n Surprise
,sprorAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,

or Two.
rpEorAL TELEGRAM TO THE pIsPATcH.i
ALBANY, September 9.-It was with good
deal of curiosity that the regular brigade OF
grand circuit horsemen came to the Island
Park meeting this week. Some of the tradi-
tional customs have been changed. and there
is. of course considerable interest as how the
new ideas will be received by the public. To
begin with the sport is arranged to extend over
five days. commencing this afternoon, while
Monday has usually been a time of vacation.
Then there are but two harness contests for
each day. instead of the three that have US n
ally been set down. Lastly, the bangtails have
invaded the domain of the trotters, and a
steeplechase course has been laid out for the
handicaps to be run on Tuesday and Thurs
day. This last innovation remains to be tested.
but the first two have come out well SO far, for
there was some very good sport at the opening
this afternoon, the two events keeping the
crowd of 5000 to 1000 people interested as
long as it is advisable for days programme to
last
The air was clear and warm, suiting the
horses even better than the people. The card
had II names in the two classes. but many trot-
ters were unable to take part from sickness or
absence that the management feared that there
would be little interest in either contest They
were agreeably surprised, however, when what
promised at first to be couple of straight heat
victories resulted in two closely-conteste ed races
of four and five heats respectively. The 2:4O
trotting class was considered a pretty sure
thing for the local gelding, Edward, who
though novice in turf matters, had shown
some trials better than 2:25. After getting two
heats in fairly fast time, the favorite was
caught off his stride in the third, and another
green geIding named Charley Groom scored first
place and record of 2:25 Edward kept steady
in the next heat and was able to beat the other
youngster in the remarkably good time of 2:2lH
The winner is four years old and is owned by
Oscar Dacey, a well-to-do lumber merchant of
this city. His sire, Volney, is a son of VOlun-
teer, while his dam is said to have been got by
Woodburne Pilot
The second event was even more sensational,
for with but two starters in the 2:22 class
Golden Rod, who was thought to have an easy
victim in the Massachusetts, gelding W. K,
after getting two heats with apparently little
effort, while W.K.was very unsteady and betting
on the contest ceased, but in the third, the
horse with the initials made a rush at the last
instant and was able to get to the wire first in
the fastest tine of the race. He repeated the
same performance in the next heat and was
short length ahead, but it would not have been
an excessive application of the rule against
repeated breaks if the heat had gone to Golden
Roo who had made but one short skip. The
judges no: doubt did what they thought was
right and that was the least chance for the son
of Alcyone, for he was SO weary in the deciding
heat that he did not get to the front at all.