The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-11-17
SPA TRACK WILL BE A BEAUTY
GREAT CHANGE TO BE WROUGHT
IN THE SARATOGA COURSE.
william &. whitney and Ills Associates Plan
q Mak II the Finest In the World
WIN He Good TO Look Upon rs Well
as Skilfully Suited to Racing.

rs Skifully suited TO RACING
SARATOGA SPRINGS, Nov. 1e.-The Sara
toga Racing Association, Of which William
G. Whitney IL the President, awarded con-
tracts a few days ago to Pennell 4 Oliver
OF New York, 20 Thomas j. Totten and TO
Miles Bradley Of Saratoga for making
such changes In the grounds and build
ings at the Saratoga course as will make it,
in the words of Mr.. Whitney. -the finest
racetrack on earth" The world Is wide
and there are many racetracks, put the
President of the Saratoga association.
whether he is considering street railway
properties or the getting together Of a
racing stable, plans on a large scale. This
much is certain, that when the work
In hand is completed there will be little
in the new course to remind one Of the
old.
The Saratoga track is the last of the his
toric courses in the North and East de-
voted exclusively to the racing of the run
ming thoroughbreds. When MorrisPark was
used for nothing more sportive han the
raising OF farm products, and the tracks
at Sheepshead Bay and Ora vesend were
still sandy stretches by the sea, the Sara
toga course was old In it's fame as a battle
ground for the t-blooded" horses OF
the United States. The track was opened
on Aug. 2. 1894. and old turfmen still recall
the day and the first running Of the Travers
stakes at one and three-quarters miles,
In which John Hunters Kentucky, one OF
the most famous of American thoroug h
breds, won the race and trat Deb. Wards
Tipperary and +. Morris's Throgg's Neck,
Jr., in 3lsI, winning 81 200 for his owner.
Monmouth Park and Pimlico and jerome
Park and Paterson were contempories then
and, in a way, rivals of the Saratoga course,
but those tracks have passed into Ameri-
can turf history and Saratoga alone in
the North and East remains to connect the
old days Of racing with the new. When,
however, the track builder and the master
carpenter and the landscape gardener
have completed tho work they have just
begun about all that will be left Of the old
course will be the turf memories its name
recalls.
So sweeping will be the changes that
hardly a foot Of the old track ever will he
raced over again. Those familiar with the
course will remember that the track was an
ellipse. the direction OF whose major axis
was east and west A chute ran through
the western field and joined the main track
near the first eighth pole. Tn grand stand,
which had a seating capacity for about
400 persons, faced almost due south,
To the EAST Of the grand stand was the
betting ring and to the west OF II was the
clubhouse A few hundred feet to the
| fh~N u llt DtllllA ihAk No7 ~ ''''' 'NN
Back Of the grand stand, TO the northwest
was the paddock, in a grove Of pines. To
the northeast Of the grand stand was the
carriage field.
The old course was n fair property To
look upon, with the Green and White Noun
tains looming against the eastern horizon,
with the foothills OF the A~dirondacks on
in the west and the valley Of the kayade-
rosseras sloping away toward the south'
But the track was laid out to meet the needs
4 - .-..-l. Ia1f IN aVttrp mo Not
long after Mr.. Whitney and his associates
in the new Saratoga Racing Association
acquired the property they found that the
track itself was not adopted TO the present
needs of racing. The fields that face the
starters of to-day are much larger than
they were even twenty-five years ago.
II wa demonstrated that both the turns
and the straight stretches were too narrow.
Besides. the new management wanted 10
have "A straightaway stretch OF az least
an eighth Of a mile bet ween the start, In
the longer races, and the first turn They
wanted, also, a much longer straightaway
stretch in which the horses could finish. ~
was found that, in the longer races. The
horses no sooner got into their stride imam
/ they had 20 Ice -teadied for a turn.
When the new management ound out
lust what the defects IN the old track were,
a civil engineer was asked to subnlt plans
which would remove those defects. In a
short time he reported that the only way
I ~ III W. Nv AAA - A''AAh w rs
suggested wa 90 build "A new one. A new
one, he said, couldn't b" laid out along
those lines without more land acres 81 II,
than was tusbe found within the confines
Of the old enclosure. Extension OF b"un-
diaries. on account Of the general contour
Of the country. was possible only TO the
south and west
sDt'- get the land. then, said Mr. Whit
new
- -.-l I.N4- go. a..F.tT.aN At NRHF IFlHaA
with but few exceptions, yet at AN aggre-
gate cue, 81 many thousands 81 dollar-
I The pTuIsrtle- acquired lay W"si ana souih
Of the T~aOsCuuTrr, along ~" east rld" ni
Nelson aNenu" and attending from ih"
south side IT Lincoln avenue 60 IA" north
,id, of Grldl.y avenue The association
Ma all. 90 buy all the land u desired "N-
I cent a rmau Cablage garden al uhr south
ea-t corner 81 Wright str'st anu N"l-"h
ay.uu. The uwurr 81 this property -
the oVuri ~ the property "u Tie upls-ll"
CORNER. u-.d fur o. Saloon II" todd Nj
I NIItu,N- agent that. n Whitney wanted
I tb. ,sIlag, gari,u o., mu-t bUN 900, -a.l.u
Nhru Mr Whitney heard ilIr u.iluA'Iu,
| b., ,ati iu bio agent
Mas, mN o,sIIusfi- fu fh' F'n'I"
/ man sil -aN that fur al' coo, lr may htsp
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