The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-27
WESTERN RACING
 COMES ID CLOSE Al KoeninSberg and Joe Rose
 Big Winners VERY SUPERIOR HORSES Pajorita, Gemmel, Jack Nunnally and Others Bound To show-Rumors
 of Track War Reach
 the Coast.
VERY SUPERIOR HORSES
BY J. s. A. MACDONALD.
vs Service Special.

BY J. s. A. MACDONALD.
 Hearst News Service Special.
 San Francisco, April 26-The muster call of the speculative forces engaged in the long campaign of the winter here at Emeryvlle will be heard shortly, for the end is in sight On all sides s'Ar' Koeninsberg and "Joe" Rose are rated the two big winners of the season. On the race track where many venture. but few garner the golden pence of Peter these operators are regarded as both lucky and smart to a degree, while yet diverse in their methods Koeninsberg is plain horse gambler, while Rose rates up like wholesale merchant in the bookmaker's line. lie is tackled on to more inside paddock angles" than any other man here, and he surely does make the most out of every little "ace-in-the- hole" When Rose learns of mortuarv tavorite he not only lays it in his own book, but you will find several other books taking a fearful whack off the ace too. In fact the running phrase- "all Joe Roses books are laying it"- stands for great portent among the ring Y Rose nnanced no fewer than six books in the ring at one time. For while it was a Standard Oil game. Just who is in with Rose is not known, but that he heads I powerful syndicate is undoubted Rose k all of $7o,000 winner koeninsberg used to be pool boy in the grandstand. This experience attuned his race track wits to the subtlest edge. He is the smallest statured bookmaker in the world for he weighs but 97 pounds and stands less than feet inches He is a bundle of nervous energy. He is lightning with his money when on the block. One good judge says Koeninsberg is the fastest horse player and the most genuinely sue eesstul bettor on the horses seen on our turf since "Pttsburg Phil' toed the mark. Koeninsberg started in playing from the ground early in the winter and later went to booking. His success has continued until bank roll of s5OOOO calibre nestled in his safety deposit box.
 On the whole the class of horses on the coast this winter is superior to that of almost any previous season. When a three-year-old, Pajorita, under 114 pounds. and Gemmel. 1 years old, under l24 pounds can beat eacn other a nose on the post over three-quarters of a mile in better than 112, you know that real race horses have peen a-running. Jack Nunnally. a horse which campaigned at seattle, Wash, last summer can meas ure right up with either of these two, too, when right He beat Montgomery in the Inaugural handicap, but later went wrong and may never show to advantage again. Gemmel can pack substantial weight and run a cracking race for three-auarters. Beyond that his powers of speed wane, as Tn the case of Roseben. But what d crackerjack this colt could be turned into under careful handling over the New York tracks, Some say Gemmel is an- other Roseben. while expressing aston- ishment in the failure of F. J. Farrell, P. J. Rainey, E. R. Thomas or some other buyer of high-priced race horses to take Gemmel at his standing market price of s10,000 The colt is a son of Rubicon, a good class sire, and is the property of H. l. Wilson, the race track mogul at Butte, Mont. Pajorita brought SoOOO in paddock sale from H. G. Bed well, a westerner. Neither will be seen east in all probability. Of the two-year- olds, the honors must go to a flly Rose Queen. In the Belle stakes she was raced into the ground out in front so that Lee Rose was enabled to come on and win off. Later. however, she simply over whelmed the colt, showing herself the real champion of the Pacific coast juve- niles. "AP' Koeninsberg may race Rose Queen in the east. and if he does New York racegoers will see one of the best Allies sent from the west since Endurance By Right made a visit to the metropolis
 Is there a turf war brewing in the far west again? Some of the seers of the turf claim to see portentous signs as they look into the future. They say the fast-growing Texas Thoroughbred asso- ciation and the Pacific Coast Jockey club are going to come together with a bang some time. The tracks of the Texas or ganization will be soon racing%i in conflict during the early the late weeks of the meetings at Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal, and of course trouble is going to ensue, just 1t did when City Park tried to run counter to the game at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans La, bringing the Western Turf associa tion and the American Turf association into war. Originally the Texas turf body had to do with the control of the racing which took place at Austin Dal- las, Houston and other Lone Star points It framed it's own rules and recognized just whom and what 1t liked Last year the big Denver, Col, meeting came under its wing and now the new track at Salt Lake Clty, Utan, IS announced as mem- Der. Salt Lake will have a $3OO,0Oo prop- erty, with racing in the early spring and late autumn. This is going to draw horses and horsemen from California But this week a real bomb fell into the camp of the Williams-R Baldwn-S Schrieber forces, controlling the Pacific Coast Jock ey club, when the apparently well-found- ed rumor that the projected track at Venice, Cal. near LOS angeles, CaI would be built, the necessary capital having been pledged only recently on the cut and dried understanding that the Texas Thor. oughbred Racing association would rec ognize the new course In case the Pa- cifc Coast Jockey club should outlaw the Venice course it will be now possible for the track to run under the Texas banner Conservative horsemen give the matter little attention, as no one expects the Venice/ project. which Curly" Brown started last year. to ever reach fruition However from the standpoint of turf politics, the outlook is interesting
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