The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-02-02
SPORTS
ABOUT HALF
MILE TRACK
Some Valuable Hints
For Local Race
Reviyalists.

1 JUST now, when IHC QUESTION Is pelUS
asked if Honolulu will ever have any
more horse-racing, and the relative
merits of a half-mile and mile track
are being discussed, the following
from a recent issue of the San Fran
cisco Breeder and Sportsman applies
peculiarly to the local situation. The
case of San Luis Obispo is almost
identically the same as that of Homo
lulu, for it is practically certain that
a local revival of racing can only be
brought about by the construction of
a new track, and half mile is most
likely to be the length of the circuit
San Luis Obispo, jan 8, 1906.
Ed Breeder & Sportsman:-Would
you kindly give me your opinion as to
which is the best track for a small
town like this to build and maintain.
We are going to build a track-that
is a settled fact. Some want a mile,
but the majority are in favor of a half
mile. Do good horses race in Cali
fornia on half-mile tracks? How
much land does it take for a half
mile track, giving sufficient room for
stables etc.? How much throwup
ought the turns to have? And which |
is the best way TO lay it out? And
any other information on the subject
would be accepted with the kindest
thanks and appreciation.
Very respectfully,
GEO. w. McCABE.
The question as to which Is the best
track is a question of money and re- |
sources. If the people interested in
building a track at San Luis Obispo
have plenty of money to buy land,
build a mile track and keep it in order.
then it is the one to choose. The his
tory of the majority of mile tracks in
small towns, however. is that they
cost too much to build and maintain,
and unless a large number of horses
can be kept in constant training and
successful meetings or fairs given
every year, they soon fall into disuse
and are elephants on the hands of
those who manage them. In the first :
place thirty or thirty-five acres are
sufficient for a good half-mile track,
60 feet in width and for the stalls,
stands and other necessary buildings,
while mile track requires about fifty
five acres at least. A half-mile track
only requires half the amount to con-
struct, and one man and team can keep
it in good order the year round and
the expense of sprinkling "a heavy one =,
in California during the summer
is but half that required for
a mile track. Good horses race over
half-mile tracks in California and in
every other State in the Union if good
80
est meetings held in the Eastern
States are on half-mile rings, and
many horses that go east from Cali
fornia every year, race on half-mile
circuits.
One of the greatest crowds that
gathers anywhere during the year to
see harness racing is at Allentown, Pa,
where between $4,000 and 100000 people
last year to see the
champion, Dan Patch. go against time.
4 we'll built half-mile track, kept in .
,rder viii not lack for horses to train ,
,ver II, and on the sizes of the purses
yiven. and the ability of the Secretary =
o rustic. will depend the class of
lorses that will race over it. We be- {
ieve there are many towns in Cali ,
ornia where mile tracks are now in
,ad condition and not Datronized that
would be the centers of considerable
We're the tracks but a half Y
nile in circumference and kept in
rider. A mile track is the best beyond r
doubt all things being equal. but
is a little more than the majority (
f associations can properly care for /
% lay out a half-mile track:
First-Draw two parallel lines 500 =
eet long and 452 feet and inches
part.
Second-Drive stake half way be-
ween the extreme ends of these two I
mes.
Third-Loop a wire around this
take long enough to reach to either
de. and make a true curve, putting $