The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-26
RACING IN MIDWINrDR.
Plugs and Mudhorses Put Up in Glass
Cases.
(Copgriaht ed.l


New YORK, Aug. 24-No such scheme
has ever been broached in America for the
promotion of sport in the winter season as
that which was recently conceived by Mr..
Pierre Lorillard, the veteran patron of the
turf and lover of sport in all its forms. He
has not only conceived an idea which is
startling in its novelty and magnitude, but
he is so sanguine of the feasibility
of it that he proposes to invest
a small fortune-which he is amply
able to do-in making it an ac-
complished fact. The plan is briefly to
cover over race track with structure of
iron and glass. The announcement in a
paragraph which has already been extern
sively circulated, has excited much com
ment among sporting men, and no small
curiosity has been aroused anent the ques-
tions, how far the details of the plan have
been worked out, and what preliminary
work, if any, has been done up to the
present time.
In speaking this week of the project Mr..
Lorillard said: "The idea is not exactly a
new one, for it occurred to me several
years ago when l noticed that the only
available places for racing purposes in the
winter months we're on the Pacific slope
where cold weather is practically unkaown
or in the southern portion of the country,
in the Gulf states. While the expense ana
trouble involved in the transfer of stables
from one part Of the country to another is
consideration of very serious weight
no genuine lover of the turf would
ever think Of making any complaint
on this account. There is,
however, another consideration more
weighty than those involved in the moving
of nor es around the county. That is the
11poO tho bOraaa Of tho af
climate to which they are necessarily sub
ject. What the effect may be of taking
them from one place to another that seems
very like it, no one can say. The tempera-
ture may be very much alike in two places,
and yet horse being taken from one to
the other may fall i'll, and it is almost i'm
possible, very often, to say why he does.
excepting by attributing it to the change.
''Of the hundreds of northern horses that
have run in the winter months at New
Orleans, Mobile and other southern ceuters.
hardly a single one has ever shown the
same form and condition that he shows in
the north. 1t is not due to the heat, be-
cause the same condition of affairs exists
when English horses are brought to the
United States, or when A nerlcan horses
aro sent over to Europe. Capt.
William NJ. Conuor of New York had a
racing stallion which he sold some years
land. The animal has retained perfect
health since he was removed to the other
side of the ocean, and has produced some
notably good offspring. He has never,
however, displayed the high speed and
other qualities that made him famous on
the American turf.
"These effects may be due, to a large ex-
tent, to the change in water. Horses are
very much like human beings in many re-
e.,fFa 10 oA,.;,,
and enteric troubles. The difference in the
drinking waters of the various parts of the
country are much greater than is usually
supposed. They are so great, indeed, that
in many instances the change causes sick
ness and weakness in horse that is sud-
denly removed from high land like New
Jersey to rich alluvial land like Louisiana.
Therefore most stable owners are aYerse to
exposing their valuable property to this
form of danger.
"As people would enjoy racing in mid
winter equally as well as in summer, it oc-
Cured to me that it would be entirely
feasible to inclose an entire race track and
grounds in a spacious building, which could
be used not alone for this purpose. but for
score of others. The style of building
would be the iron and glass type, which
was made familiar to New Workers by the
Chrygtal palace in 1856, and which,
the construction Of numerous large
buildings, both in this country and
in Europe. These buildings were formerly
expensive, but can now be erected at a re-
markably small cost. Through the devel-
opment and progress Of the iron industries
of the country, architectural iron can be
produced in vast quantities at lesser rates
than many kinds of stone, terra-cotta or
even brick. A strong, rough glass which
is used for the walls and roofs is no longer
imported, since it is manufactured at home
for almost the same figures as abroad.
''These materials are so light and strong
that an edifice Of almost any size, even the
largest, can be constructed without in
curing a proportionate increase OF cost
over a smaller structure. The shape of the
building would either be a great ring In
closing the track or great circle inclosing
the track, stands, and the central ring.
"Such structure would have many
advantages over the ordinary course. The
track would always be dry, and being
sheltered from the weather could be kept
in such faultless condition as to make it this
fastest track in the world. While this
would do away with the usefulness OF mud