The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-03
By Paul Dandy.

1t is predicted tnat d larger hullOVl
of those Croesuses who live chiefly
to promote high-class racing in the
limited States will be present at the
opening of the new Saratoga race track
Tomorrow than have ever before been
In evidence on the opening day of a
race meeting. For the beginning or
the Saratoga season this year is really
the formal launching of new dis
pensation in American turf matters
the aim of the Saratoga Association,
as voiced oft and again by its presi-
dent, William C. Whitney, being to
Mace horse racing in this country on
a higher level than ever before. To
this end Mr.. Whitney and his asso-
ciates have taken an immense amount
of personal pains. beside laying out
a sum of money closely approximat-
ing $S5O,OO0, in rejuvenating the track
and all that appertains thereto. They
have risked heavily on the willingness
and ability of their fellow-cittzens to
support a great race track hundreds
of miles distant from any of the great
centers of population, and failure,
should it come, will not be due TO the
absence of any of the promoters at
+be send-off. if they can possibly be
present Thus tomorrow will be
great day for the visitor to Saratoga
not already acquainted with the per-
sonal peculiarities of the various kings
of the turf.
James r. Keene, tall, spare, wearing
a shining silk hat. and Immediately
but quietly clad. will be one of the
most interesting figures in sight. he
is not an officer of the association, but
he is intensely interested in its success,
and has promised to be on hand. His
picturesque prominence in the public
prints for a score of years or more
makes him the observed of many OBJ
servers wherever his presence is known
and he will be pointed out and gossiped
over by thousands before the day is
over.
james II. Keene's Eye.
Among the jockeys and the trainers,
the stable boys, the bookmen and all
the other race track professionals Mr..
Keene stands very near the top of the
list This is largely because of his eye.
1t is keen, alert and affecting. There
is no devotee of racing on either side
of the water who goes into the sport in
a more business-like manner than he.
Before every race in which he is inter
ested he spends as long a time in the
paddock as he can paying strict atten-
tion to his own horses. He watches
the saddling as intently as if millions
depended upon the operation. Nothing
escapes him, and his silent scrutiny
he never speaks unless something goes
wrong--keeps his employees keyed to
the keenest tension.
If by chance he detects anything
amiss there is something doing at once.
Keene never speaks to the jockey, or
the stable boy, or the groom who may
be at fault, though. 1t is to the trainer
only that this racing magnate ad-
dresses himself, and, no matter how
severe may be the opinion or criticism
he has to express, his vocabulary,
though forceful is always well in
hand, and there are few, indeed, who
have ever heard him swear.
When the race is ready to be RUM Mr..
Keene HES himself to the most avail
able location for the watching of the
contest. At Sheepshead Bay this is
the upper veranda of the clubhouse.
and upon IL he stands, with set face,
strong glasses glued to his eyes from
the beginning to the end of the race,
and immovable as a statue. He risks
heavily at times, of course, but is rare
ly or never seen in the betting ring,
employing a commissioner" a big
and burly Briton, to place his bets.
Sometimes this man is kept exceed
ingly busy running back and forth be
tween the ring and wherever Keene
may happen to be. The commissioner
often takes his part in the betting
far more seriousely than Keene does
himself The master never turns a
hair, no matter whether he wins of
loses, receiving congratulations and
condolences alike with stoicism, but
his commissioner frequently becomes
quite wrought up over an unexpected
loss.
Nerve of Millionaire Bettors.
The underlings of the race track are
as much enamored of Keene because
he's a good loser as they are because of
his eagle eye, but nerve in losing racing
bets is an attribute possessed by nearly
all the millionaire turf men. You'd
have hard work to tell from his face
whether Whitney, or John Sanford, or
Clarence Mackay, or August Belmont,
or any of the rest of them were to the
good or the bad, but this isn't surpris-
ing, seeing that the largest sum they
are likely to win or to lose are not SUI
ficient to change their bank accounts
perceptibly. It's the man who risks all
he has on a race that has need of
nerve when he bets.
"keene has this sort of nerve in
exercise it when betting on race
says a man who has known him in his
flushes as well as in his most stringent
periods.
There was one day, long ago." says
this man, when Jim Keene had to
borrow the railroad fare from Cedar
hurst on Long Island to New York be-
fore he could get to town to try and
make a raise. Well, on that day he
appeared the same cool, shrewd, nervy
chap that he seems to-day; just as
neat in his dress, though his clothes
weren't so new, and quite as aloof
from the common herd. Nobody on
earth would have thought him short
of cash. Another thing: James r.
Keene is well fixed now-I wish l
had half his money-and might we'll
afford a spacious country house and
palatial city residence, but he has
neither. When he is in New York he
puts up at the Waldorf-Astoria, and
when he is at Cedarhurst he lives in
the same wooden cottage-I don't be-
lieve 1t cost a cent more than 5000
that he called home in the days of his
hardest luck. There was a time then
when the ceiling of the porch of this
house showed a great scar where the
plaster had fallen off. That scar was
healed long ago, and the house and
lawn are now a good deal heater in
appearance than they were, but other
wise the house is practically I'M
changed"
VIM. Il. Vanderbilt, BettOr.
OF all Of the Croesus bettors on the
turf William X. Vanderbilt is the most