The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-11
GOSSIP or THE HARNESS HORSES.
Echoes of the Grand Circuit MsstipE-speed
Average Below 2i1O.

| Echoes OF the Grand Circuit MeetinE-Speed
| Average Below 2i1o.
When the compiler OF harness-rac sta
| tistics takes look at the facts and figures Of
the Grand Circuit meeting which closed last
Friday. he is not long in reaching the conclu-
sion that IL was in many respects the most
| notable affair OF the kind on record. 1t has
| been many day since a trotting meeting any
| where attracted $4,000 in 1--WE days. yet this
| was the estimated attendance last week. That
| IL would have been considerably greater with
better transportation facilities was plain to all
| who tried to reach tho course on the day OF the
big pacing race. Many who arrived at Mount
Vernon and found the single track street car
line and the carriage service completely
swamped returned to the city rather than
walk three-quarters OF 4 mile to tho track.
Former Corporation Counsel W. H. Clark
who has expended about S75O.0O0 on the En-
pre City track and grounds within year. was
quick to recognize the necessity OF up-to- date
transportation facilities. He said on Thursday
that next season patrons OF the sport will no
able to go from the Grand Central Station into
the grounds without change OF cara. spur
from the Harlem railroad 10 said I o be assured
for next year.
One Of the notable features Of the attendance
last week was the large number OF persons who
drove out to tho track. The drive from the
through one OF the most picturesque portions
OF upper New York. and the road was crowded
daily with light and heavy turnouts. Nearly
everybody ever seen on tho Speedway was
there with his best road horse. That the re-
newed interest in road driving. created by the
opening Of the Speedway. increased the attend
ance at the Grand Circuit meeting was every
where tho talk among horse fanciers.
1t goes without saying that tho new track
and all its equipments were a revelation to
visiting horsemen and the home contingent az
well Probably no meeting In the history Of
harness racing ever before saw five trotters
gain new records below 2:1O in Ave days. This
was done at tho new track Last week, when
Louise Mao VA tuned ! in 2;M Ayss in 2;9n
and Tho Abbot in 2:O64. Besides these per-
Iormances &C Gresceus; 2t07t; sana,Ied nj,
to2 II. serpof and Rn6bsr trotted up to their
records Of 2:lo. senator, l.. cut h. marx from
record Of 2:l5. Excel squaed his record OF
2:l0l. Pilot Evans got mark OF 2:13a;
2:O3t was a notable performance. tho hay
gednE ha Ir h Seen cs "a on all ths
TVS bay gelding ToboGgsn and o, NJ. fawton's
ehestnpt gedng Oscar l.. also dsplayed re
one OF the Brooklyn PAGERS had record OF 800 |
or better when they started at tho Grand Or
while Toboggan took alden record OF 2 :0SS. |
Last weeks Grand Circuit meeting was
vocatss and tho critics Of the two in three
system Of harness racing. 1t was the only |
meeting In the Grand Circuit at which tho
thorough test all Of the others having retained |
the old three in-hve systom throughout. or |
Some Of the old-timers who saw the woek pass |
without p9stp3nement on account OF dark,
up in time for race-goers to get hack to town |
in, time for dinner. were inclined to doubt
worth under the, new, system. Com nG home
on the race train last Friday one. OF them got
s h @ msr hs % he old a9d the
when the advocate oftwo-in-three said to him
where the result would have been changed by
going another heat? have been look ing for
seen it. Take the 81 bic s,ao H I race &oSoay
wanted to see Cresceus trot another mile to be
bunch And the pacing stations II they had
kept on all the afternoon. Joe Patchsn would
the hs
Peter the Great aud Lord Vincent. and with all
tho rest OF the races ANOTHER thing. | didn't
Not one, | don't suppose such q thing has
happened before in the Grand Circuit since
When two heats win race; nobody wants to
throw one OF them away. Thus meeting has
system. There, won't be much OF anything
else next year"
Inc speed average az the new track probably
surpasses anything that has been seen in the
Grand Circuit or elsewhere for a hve,;days'
meeting. Forty heats were required to decide
the eighteen races to sulky on the regular pro-
gramme. and these heats were trotted and
paced at an average Of 2 :O0H to the mile Tho
trotters covered twenty-four miles at the rate
Of 2:1Ols, while tho average of the PAGERS was
BOB for sixteen heats. When it 10 rem an bs red |
that 2:1Oh had never been made In a race by |
q trOtter IN to seven years ago, and that no |
PAGER ever beat 2:l0 in actual contest until |
1891. the remarkable average can be better |
a m WAT N =.
this limit