The Washington times., 1905-03-23
BENN|NG SPRING
MEETING TODAY
Eastern Turf Season Opens
This Afternoon.
WEATHER Is FAVORABLE
Great Interest Being Shown in Races
After Most Severe Winter.
Good Jockeys.

The weather man failed to indorse the
opening OF the 1905 racing season at
Benning today. but the frownS Of his
displeasure were not proof against the
ea gerness OF the multitude which looked
to Benning for emancipation from the
most severe winter season the East
has ever known.
a pleasant day would have added ma
terially TO the comfort of the patrons
and would have furnished a splendid set
ting to the scene, tut if the untoward
conditions kept anyone away 1t was not
apparent early in the afternoon
The crowd began to shoW up early
and there was constant clicking OF
the turnstile. until after the first race
had been called. The length of their
stay here depends, of course. on their
success in picking winners, but it is a
fact beyond dispute that never before
were so many New Workers in attend
ance at the spring meeting here as this
season.. The trains of yesterday and last
night were well filled with racing folk
from the. big town Many of them were
disappointed in the matter of aecommo-
dations. They expected to drop into
quarters they had occupied for years but
had failed to engage them in advance
and found them already taken.
The entries for the opening day prob
ably are a bit poorer. than would have
been the case with a fast track but
the difference is so slight as to attract
no attention The field for the handicap
Is without doubt the best that ever has
raced in an event Of this kind at Ben
ming
Starters Fit.
The starters were all fit from racing
at the winter tracks, and the race had
an open look that invested 1t with more
than ordinary interest. The speculation
was keen, and between fifty and sixty
layers of odds found all Of the buSi-
ness they could attend to.
Some of the best riders in the coun-
try will sport silk during the meeting.
frankie O'Neil. who had the mount on
the peerless Beldame in her great win
ming races of last season, came over
last night especially to ride Roseben,
the topweight in the handicap He Will,
however return to New York tonight
10 assist Trainer Fred Burlew in the
preparation of the extensive Benning-
ton Stable for the early racing at New
York
Arthur Redfern, who long ago learn
ed the shortest way around the Bennins
course, dropped in from Hot Springs
yesterday. Redfern looks inches taller
than when he left here last fall. He is
no longer the cherub-faced "Kiddie
who pilote that Washington favorite
Carbuncle, to many a well-earned VIC.
tory here in the seasons gone by. He
cannot a present ride at less than II.
pounds. and may find it difficult Il
make this weight. He has ridden but
little during the winter, just enough te
keep in form for Benning.
Jockey Grover Cleveland Fuller who
devoted more attention to the ''prim-
rose path of dalliance'' last season than
to his calling, bobbed up from Los
Angeles, looking like the Fuller of old
and that means a reformed young man.
No better rider~eve threw leg over a
thoroughbred than Fuller when he at
tends to business. This he refused to
do last season There seems have
been a complete change during the win
ter. He went to Los Angeles, buckled
down to work, cut out the fooishness
and was o big success. He came here
without an engagement but he has
only to walk in the straight and narrow
path and he will never lack for oppor-
tunities to ride.
George Odom will be here a little
later, bot Hildebrand and Wonderly will
ride at Memphis coming East after
the meeting at Montgomery Park. With
Burns, Shaw, Romanelli, Creamer
Miles, and many other riders of meri
in addition to those already named, or
the ground ready and anxious TO ride
there will be no shortage in this de
partment.
The Chevy Chase. one of the grea
features of the meeting, which Will bt
iun Saturday, is provoking q lot Of com
ment just at present because of thu
riders.
This race is intended to be strictly al
amateur event so far as riders go. The
lines between the amateur and profes
sional have ever been hard to define, an(
the shutting out of many who have al
ways ridden as amateurs from participa
tion in the Chevy Chase has caused a 10
of talk.
Only four of the riders are known 81
far, but as the field probably will no
be a large one. a sufficient number vii
liFely be drummed up. Mr.. Knut vii
ride Twilight, the winner last year
Dion Kerr will be on Jacobel. Lee Evans
on Montrup, and Fred Dixie on Sitter.