Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-22
9ENN|NG MEETING
OPENS TOMORROW
More Horses at the Track
: Than Were Ever Chartered
There Before-TOm0r-
rows Feature.


lowers of the turf who have been so
iourning around New York, down south
and in the far west will meet again. and
the eastern racing season of 1908 will be
launched. If indications can be relied
upon, the Washington Jockey Club will
have the most successful meeting in its
history Stable room has been at a pre-
MUM for the past two weeks and when
the curtain rises the grounds will hold
the largest number of horses ever quar-
tered there.
Horsemen who have been racing at the
two tracks on the Pacific coast and at
New Orleans have arrived. and for the
rast three or four days their seasoned
ponies have been burning up the Benning
track. The recent decision of Judge STAFF
. ford sustaining the walk around" sys-
tem OF bookmaking as legal was all that
was needed to bring down the New York
e~s AS early as Friday an increase in
he floating population of Washington
could be noticed, and last night the nOtelS
and the avenue were thronged with the
followers of the racing game Ionlght
he Cavanagh special will arrive from
New \ ork, and as every seat therein was
reserved two days ago, fully 1,oo0 DOCK
makers. owners, jockeys AMI clerks Will
be added to the already big throng.
Supt. Tom Strahan has everything in
apple-pie order at the track, his large
gang OF assistants having gone over
every foot OF the ground to see that there
nothing amiss. Thursdays rain
helped some. but the energetic Superln-
lendent was not Satisfied and worked
almost night and day with sprinkler, har
row and roller to MAKE the track we'll
EiEh perfect. With clear skies from now
Until the sport is started tomorrow the
l. arli VIII be i'll first-class condition and
limo 1jtypt v1in fl n
ners tiiat are engaged to race in the
early stakes and other events have been
receiving daily preparation, and have now
reached that point where they are READY
FOR a hard struggle. Covering a quarter
In OF 1-5. three Iurlongs in O.iO and five
fur;onSs in LII So proves that they have
shaken off the fat OF winter and are very
near to best form.
First Benning Handicap.
The feature event the opening day is the
First Benning handicap, six-furlonS
sprint for three-year-olds and upward.
Seventeen entries were sent out yesterday
as participants in this event, but 1t Is
more than likely that at least five or
half dozen will come under the blue PEN
oil tomorrow before the bugie sounds
:O- the sadd'ing of the thoroughbreds.
or this number there are at least five
tDHt are believed to have excellent
rnances of pullint, down the rich prize,
while the rail birds have at least three
that are believed to have a look In.
ii.e~e is much talk of Berkeley, Banyah.
lr emo Oraculum and Graziallo on ac-
CONT of their splendid workouts. and any
rf mis- quiut is believed TO have more
tEan a good chance Berkeley Will prob
ably go 10 the post favorite in this
event. with Tommy Burns in the saddle.
II Tommy shows up in first-class form
the top weight carrier will be hard one
10 beat Banyah will probably be second
choice and many believe that this is
the thoroughbred that the winner will
have 10 beat.
David Dunlop is more than pleased
with the weight allotted to his three
year-old. Billie Hibbs. The Fatherless
gelding. which was bred at Capt. r. j.
Hancock's E -lerslie farm, III Albec1arle
county. Va, and which is trained by the
Alberarle county trainer. William Garth.
will surely start tomorrow. Mr.. Dunlop
would have been satisfied with anything
under los pounds. He did not expect to
get in under less than 102 or ,10:.
But Billie Hibbs is not the most for
ward candidate for the first Benning In
the stable of Garth. He has not been
working as swiftly as Graziallo, Samuel
Ross Rapallo stallion. which took place
rno1ey behind Malacca last season. But
Billie is in fine condition and he can run
whenever he is let down. Garth had not
arranged for rider for the Fatherless
gelding. He may have some trouble in
getting a frst-class lightweight. too.
Garth is sa :iSfied with Handicapped
Murphys treatment of O d Graziallo. That
fast but erratic old campaigner has three
pounds less TO carry tomorrow than he
had last season when he ran Maiacca TO
a head. Graziallo carried no pounds last
spring.
Berkeley Has His Package.
Berkeley, the candidate of the Bever-
wyck stable for this years first Ben
ming will have to be as much better than
Malacca was last spring as his people
seem to think him to have chance. One
hundred and sixteen pounds is stiff weight
for d horse of Berkeleys quality in race
Of three-quarters of a mile. Although
Berkeley was got by the sprinting stall
lion Dieudonne. he was never distinguish
ed for early speed. His forte is running
from behind in the homestretch. and
horses of his kind like distances of
ground.
Berke.ey's stock is not as high as 1t
was before the announcement Of the
weights.
Murphy was exceptionally kind to
Francis r. Hitchcock'S Smoker. the win
ner OF last seasons Juvenile stakes. A
colt of the class discovered by that son
OF Yankee and Smoke last season would
do we'll in any race OF three-quarteTs OF
mile under 1O5 pounds. Last year Smoker
held his own, when good, with the best
second-rate two-year-olds.
The other events have filed we'll and
with few scratches the card for tomor-
row can be classed as almost first-class,
from Bennlng viewpoint. The open SELL
ing steeplechase has been showed down
into fifth place. instead of third. as here
tofore, and there are enough good timber
foppers in the list to please the thousands
of lovers Of this sort of racing IN this
vicinity. The going in the infield is very
good. owing to Supt. Strahan's foresight
in keeping the horses off while the sod
was soft. and as result there should be
few. If any. spills TO mar the sport.
Plenty of Jockeys.
There will be no dearth of riders, as
most of the regulars that rode In the east
last season will be on hand. with large
addition in the boys that have come into
tie limcl!ght during the winter v. Pow
ers. who will ride for August Belmont
this season IL his work Is satisfactory.
viii receive his tryout here. Willie Shaw.
one OF the c!everest riders that ever sat
horse. will make his temperance
with Tommy Burns after his sojourn on
the other side OF the Atlantic. Walter
Miller. the Marvellous" will hardly be
Aere tomorrow, although he started east
several days ago. but he will be on hand
before the scene shifts to the Empire
state Walter will be accompanied by Gil
bert. who showed such great skill at Oak
land the past winter and who is under
contract 10 Thomas Williams to ride for
the latter when Miller cannot make the
required Weight "Puddin' Mcdaniel,
Sumter and other good boys who have
been making good at New Orleans will