The herald., 1898-10-17

harness animals were not as good as the
local public has been in the habit of seeing
and where q free-forall harness event IN
former years attracted from eight to ten
thousand spectators, similar events TINS
year were able to bring out not half that
number. The association should have risked
more money and procured more horses at
the track There were plenty OF running
horses in the north, but many of the own.
crs were unable to stand the expenses OF
bringing them here The association should
have defrayed the expenses and IN case any
of the horses brought down by the organiza-
ton won, the association could readily have
remunerated itself out of the purses. Ger
tainy, the purses offered were very tar
and the horsemen would nave peen W,lhne
to have taken a chance along with the as,
sociation. OF course, if these imported
horses did not land, then the association
would have had to pocket the loss OF trans
portation.
There was some talk of bringing Tom
Heating and his fine string of harness
horses here, but this move was started APP
parently at a late date. tor not until the
first week of the races did the directors de-
eide to send for Heating. The deal was
called off on account of the postponement
of the Nashville or Louisville races. II
negotiations had been begun with Heating
earlier in the season, there might have been
some chance to procure his string.
The public has become disguised with the
manner in which harness races have been
conducted. The last meet had more scan
dial than ever before On the last three days
of the meet two drivers were fined for lay.
ing up heats. and one horse. a heavy favor
lite, was thought to have been "doDed." The
result was that bets were called off on three
heats in as many harness races in three
DAYS. In fact, it has become recognized that
unless one is con the inside" it is folly to
risk a dollar on harness race at Agricul-
tural park. The running races were not so
bad, Jockey Ruiz being the only one to smf-
fer. There was a sensational storylto the
effect that an offer had been made to jockey
Butler to pull Roadwarmer in q race, but
the details of the case seem to have never
been brought to the attention of the judges
for certainly no action was taken in the
matter.
There was much complaint by some horse
men against the association in having Nick
Covarrubias and Lewis Thorne, director
and secretary, respectively of the orQaniza-
ton. act as judges of the races. Without
desiring to do any injustice to either of
these gentlemen. it would certainly have
seemed better Judgment to have employed
men who were in no manner concerned in
the awarding of the purses. 1t was prob
ably on account of the directors policy of
tHdC tWO VI us were
selected. and yet the band never once played
"I don't like no cheap man" The horse
men, moreover, had standing Joke that
whenever there was chance to fine driver
and thereby enrich the association it was
done.
The farce exhibit of cows and cabbages
and needlework was omitted this year, but
whether this contributed much to the non
success of the meet, is question. Certainly
little support was given the races by outside
towns.
Some of the running races were the best
that have ever been witnessed in Los An
geles and were good enough for the best
tracks. Marplot broke the coast record for
mile and an eighth. Moringa lowered the
track record for a mile, covering the dis
tance in LAO, and Grady went mile and n
half in 2:32l1, and La Goleta. ran a mile last
Friday in l;39%, beating Grady byr couple
of lengths. Moringa also ran mile in
l39h. which nearly e1ualed the coast rec
ord of l:39A, held by Vinctor These were
all fine races and made in splendid time. and
will do much toward compensating for the
unpleasant features of the harness races
T.. ]. Raldwin's entries probably made IL
better showing than those of any other stu.
BILE. Crane & Owen Jared we'll and Burns &
Waterhouse got a bit of money. Tom
Boyle also pocketed several purses. MS did
Fl. L. Jones and Gardner & Son. J. Thomp-
son did well with his entries in the harness
events, as did w. S. Maben and the Ven
dome stock farm.