The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-20
BURNS HANDICAP BRINGS OUT STARS Greatest Event In Turfdom In
 the West HARD TO SELECT WINNER Many Good Horses Are Entered, But It Is Believed That Those Trained at Los Angeles Will Have
 Best Chance.
HARD TO SELECT WINNER
BY J. S. A. MACDONALD.

San Francisco, January 19.-(Speeial.)- The famous Burns handicap, the Brook lyn handicap of the Pacific coast will be run week from today at Emery | vile. The big race is worth s7OO0 to the l owner of the winning horse, and 5000 and $1O00 respectively, to the owners of the second and third horses. It is laid over the same route as the Suburban handicap. the Brooklyn handicap and the other star spring 3-year-old- -and-up spring specials in the east, and, like these events, it attracts a tremendous crowd. Paris may have It's Grand Prix and London the Epson Derby, but to San Francisco there Is nothing which tran scends in racing importance the great Burns handicap, named In honor of Dan M. Burns, vice president of the New California Jockey club. and meant to per petuate a memory of the noble deeds accomplished by him for the welfare of the turf upon the Pacific slope. With clear weather prevailing a week from to- day throng of 15Oo0 racing enthusiasts will be on hand for the running, And what a betting carnival 1t will be, too. It's one of the real great sporting spec tacles of the world to see the Burns handicap crowds toss up the gold to the bookmakers. Talk about Suburban handicap day-why there is almost as much money wagered here on the Burns handicap.
 At this time it Is hard to make a se- lection as the probable winner, though many good judges say either s. c. IIil- dreth or R. F. Carman will take the plum Montgomery and Meelick have re- ceived a long and careful preparation on the dry course at Santa Anita, where, in training are also Ed Trotter's Peter Sterling and Dick Carman's star. Rife man. Undoubtedly the race looks to be at the mercy of one of the Los Angeles candidates. The muddy condition of the Oakland course has made 1t exceedingly difficult for the local trainers to condi- ton their candidates so, as much as the local associates hates to see the Carman and Hildreth horses come up here to win big chunks of money to take away and disburse at Los Angeles, it must resign itself to the inevitable, for just now it looks as if nothing but an outrageous accident can deprive an Ar
 
 | rich money bag dangling at the end of this years Burns handicap. Carman left Oakland in a huff over two months ago, but he submerged his feelings every time a good money-paying stake appeared on the horizon here. He never failed to send up a candidate after the money, and. in the majority of instances he went home with it. In fact, when the rainy season set in, along about the last part of November, he and Blute decided on set campaign of conditioning their horses at Los Angeles and sending them up here for the big stakes The plan has worked to perfection.
 While great many things may oc- cur within a weeks time the propable starters in the coming Burns handicap are as follows:
 Horses. Owners. Prob. Jockey. Lisaro .......J. E. Baldwin....... Hogg. Juggler ......B Berlew & O'Neil ......-- Joe Nealon.. .C.C. McCafferty. .Heatherton Arimo ............'..-.. .'.'''.. burns Rihleman .....R. F. Carman ......Harty Acrobat ............. ......-........... ROSS Early Tide ...U. Zde Arman ....Preston Keep Moving M Goldblatt ......-- Rapid Water ...... ..Dugan Meelick .......S. c. Hildreth .-....Lynch Montgomery .............'..;.'.''... Sahuy Clamor w ........ .Radtke Red Leaf ........J. O. Keene ........--- Peter Sterling. Ed Trotter .... Mountain Periuicio ..T. H. Williams .....Miller "A sure thing for the few and gam bie for the multitude is the way a care 1 full student of the racing conditions sum l marizes the situation in the east today. Since the recent anti-racing utterance or l Governor Hughes of New York state, the 1 Jockey club has been subjected to all sorts of criticism, but after all is said I and done there are but three causes for legitimate complaint. There are the 1 eomparatively small purses offered the 1 owners of race horses, the ineXpertness l of the complimentary stewards and the l snobbishness of Sammy Rowland at l Belmont park. When you think of the millions of dollars which are divided among the stockholders of the several metropolitan race tracks in three years
 time. one may understand that the giv- l ing of several events with s25.000 of added l money would not be out of the way. For l instance: Many of the $25.O00 fixtures 1 on the calendar now are really made up l from the nomination, entry and declara- 1 ton fees of the owners list The owners 1 give S150OO and the Racing association l the other s10,000. There is the average ratio On September 6, last year, there
 were six races run at Sheepshead bay,
 costing the Coney Island Jockey club about s6200. The gate receipts totaled
 over s1S.000. while the SIP daily "cut-in' l from each book went to about s2400. Then
 came the bar privileges programmes,
 etc. Opposed to this were the enor-
 nous expenses of clerical help, band, | Pinkerton service, etc.-an amount esti-
 mated at s50O0. Altogether the expense
 was about s11,200 and the receipts over
 s2O 40o. There is a profit of approximately
 S9200 on one days racing. About 5000
 of added money to that days handicap
 event would have tickled the horsemen
 and brought out a stronger field.