Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-04

CLUB HOUSE, KENTUCKY RACE CUURSE.
There is din and a hnbbub and con-
fusion of tongues Men stand in excited
groups about the pool room. They scud
hero and there with unfixed purpose, or
with every nerve alert concentrate their
minds upon the odds the "bookies" are
registering and proclaiming upon the vari
GUS animals entered.
A stentor voice, perhaps, from one side
Z Of the room, whose rubicund owner, chalk
in hand, is systematically employed in a
rapid series of writing and erasing figures
5 from the blackboard before him, sounds the
fiuctuating keynote of popular favor by
running fire of numerical jargon: ''Helter
SHELTER, 6 to 40 to 4; Hefter Shelter, 2
to 4-10 to A." and SO on, while probably
odds altogether at variance with these are
running up on the same horse in different
part of the room. Other turf potentates,
Just as generous of person and lusty Of
lung, are doing just as enterprising busi-
ness at their own respective stands upon
every horse entered for the forthcoming
race, and the chaos of sound and of scene
beneath the grand stand at the Kentucky
association racecourse at its spring meet
ing approaches the sublime.
Everybody is buying pool tickets-that
is. everybody irnbued with the true spirit
of the occasion. eUe
Before the winning and the losing has
begun to sour mems souls, and the first
bugie call to the post is yet unsounded,
nStslwart Bluegrass sons, with the well fed,
sell groomed look of their kind, gravitate
0gether In amicable groups, exchange
friendly slERs on the shoulder. interchange
straight tips" with shrewd winks and
mods, air an anecdote or so, and every now
and then shiver the welkin with a loud
guffaw.
The impecunious, man with a taste for the
pool room, winds in and out among his ac-
quaintances on the grounds in wistful en-
deavor to effect a loan upon the assured
collateral that will accrue from the tip
that he boasts.
Small boys with the inevitableness of the
breed and a stern disregard Of convention
alities, either in apparel or manners, effect
an entrance boldly by means of "fence
ticket" into the Mecca of their desires, and
listen open mouthed to the betting, or
hover entranced about the jockeys, who
have attained, in their eyes, to the very
pinnacle of mundane bliss.
Others less doughty of heart are content
to enjoy the glories within in slim sections
afforded the view by the cracks in the high
board fence inclosing the magic inclosure.
Others, Zaccheus-hke, are mounted in
trees, and reap their reward at the expense
of much bodily contortion. But the scene
at the race course of the Kentucky asso-
ciation at Lexington is well worth such
effort.
There is the glamour and the poetry of
all typical and time honored institutions
in the Kentucky association meetings,
hardly less inspiring than the charm of
the physical surroundings.
From every point of view a far reaching
stretch of gracious bluegrass lands melt
into horizon of hazy foliage that the
spring has called upon the forest trees
White stables, the lodgings of the equine
aristocracy that the races have assembled
from far and near, are dotted about the
immediate distance.
The magnificent track describes a circu-
lar mile about the expansive bluegrass
disk, whose cool turf, shaded by beeches. is
q refreshment to the heated feet of the
horses when the race is done.
Here, amid ''green pastures" the excited
animals are led after the finish of each
race, and rubbed and smoothed and tended
with the solicitude that royalty itself would
scarce evoke. The 'grand stand" timers
and judges stand, the betting sheds, club
house, lawn and field are aglow and
aswarm, and instinct with the prevailing
sense of anticipation and exhilaration.