Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-02-24
NEW ARRIVALS
At BENN|NG TRACK
Dion Kerr and "Pa" DAYS.
Strings Now Here-Trainer
Marsh Meets With AC-
Cident.

AS the opening of Benning draws near
the daily arrivals of large strings of thor
oughbreds grow in numbers. One of the
strings to arrive Friday that of Dion
Kerr of this city and Virginia. AR. Kerr
| is usually one of the first to arrive al
the local course. but the last month has
been so cold that he decided to hold off
awhile. and has wintered his famous
jumpers at his large estate at Warren
ton. Va. where he has fine breeding
establishment and where. at present the
well known jumper. Follow On. is stabbed.
TO be shipped here later in time for the
meeting.
| Several years ago Mr.. Kerr attended a
performance at New York theater where
Miss Edna May was starring in the Belle
of New York. the famous musical COM
edy which had just been brought over
from the long and successful run at the
Duke Of York's theater in London. The
| musical hit of the piece. it will be remem-
bered and the song that made Miss
May famous. was Follow On sung by
| the American cantatrce clad in the garb
| Of a Salvation Army lasSie.
Mr.. Kerr at that time wanted s. name
| for a two-year -old. and was so impressed
with Miss Mays singing that he named
his great fencer Follow On But the
|
name for mile or so In race. then
comes on and usually gets in the money,
if he does not always win.
A Brilliant Performer.
Another brilliant performer belonging to
Mr.. Kerr is Essex. half-breed. who won
several rich stakes at Brookline last year,
one Of them being the Hunters steeple-
chase. race held annually at Brookline.
which brings together the finest hunters
| in the country.
The rest of the string includes Cold
! feur, winner of several races at Pimlico
last fall; Fin McCool and Little Roy.
They are under the care Of Preston Price,
| trainer for Mr. Kerr.
| Another arrival Friday was that clever
| three year-old Billy Hibbs. named after
| the popular banker OF this city. who came
down from Virginia with Woods Garth.
the trainer. who had also with him Lady
Isabel, Jimimi and that old rogue Ora
| ziallo. who ran second to Malacca last
spring in the Benning spring handicap.
and TOuchwood. who was disqualified last
| fall after running very clever second in
the Harbor Hill stakes.
Besides the above named horses Mr..
| Garth has fifteen two-year-olds. whose
names will not be made public until the
LIST of March. He also brought some good
news with him from Virginia TO the eff
| feet that his brother William Garth the
| well-known and popular trainer for Mr..
Paul ]. Rainey. the young Cleveland mil
iionaire. had improved so rapidly during
the last fortnight that he is now able
to take outdoor exercise. though he still
| finds it necessary to use crutches His
left ankle. which is still quite swollen, is
improving rapidly. and ii is certain that
| he will be here as usual within a few
weeks.
"Pa" Days String Due.
| Several of PA" Days horses which
| will race here. including Hartford Boy,
Josephine DAILY, Sailor Boy and group
of two-year-o]ds, were shipped Saturday
and are expected to arrive today He re-
Gently purchased couple of -year-olds
from Mr.. James r. Keene. one of them
by Voter and the other by Commando.
The latter is said TO resemble in many
ways, especially in his stride. the great
Colon. for whom Mr.. Keene recently re-
| fused an offer of S15O.O00.
| An accident took place at the ira *
Saturday morning when the clever young
trainer, Lawrence March. who trains for
Harry Rites. had his left foot quite
severely injured it being stepped on by
Miss Catesby. one of Mr.. Rites promising
ee-year-Olds.
Mr. March expects to be about in a day
or SO to again take charge of the train
ing of the Rites string, in which are
such good ones as Woolspun, Wilton
Lackaye, Ricondonna and Miss Catesby.
of which will start at Pmlico. where all
Mr. Rites horses show up well.
One of the boys who will be seen for
the first time at the local course wearing
silks is Jimmy DAILY. who will don the
colors of p. Sullivan at the spring meet
ing. Young Daily who gives every prom
Use of becoming great Jockey. is at home
known as the Staten Island cyclone. He
won the title because of his boxing abili-
ties. He is a boxer of some repute around
New York. where he recently won six
round bout from the clever little light
weight Abe Meyer of Brooklyn. Young
Daily holds the championship OF Staten
Island as a feather-weight. He will ride
during the meeting at 10o pounds
Cracks in Splendid Condition.
The great Salvidere and Dandelion.
belonging TO John f. Madden. are in
splendid condition. and are receiving care
full attention for the big handicaps they
are entered in later including. among
others. the Brooklyn, which race Salvi-
dere gets in with 12l and Dandelon III
pounds.
lucky at his great breeding farm. is one
of the few owners who favor the abol-
ishment of the betting ring: or. at least.
he is of the opinion that racing does not
depend for its life upon the purely specu-
lative end of the game.
The present agitation in New York state
against racing is one of the chief topics
discussed at Benning nowadays, and one
Of the owners said yesterday. when asked
for his opinion as to the effect on racing
in New York state in case the Percy-Grey
law is repealed. replied Without the
ring racing will go to smash in New
York. or anywhere else. for that matter.
for the simple reason that the majority
of those who attend the races do so in
order to gamble on the ponies. The
money they pay for admission goes to-
ward making up the purses and stakes
and the other big expenses incident to
running a race track. Should racing be
discontinued in New York it would mean
the putting out of employment of at least
eighteen thousand men. Besides, millions
of dollars worth of property in race
| tracks would decrease one-half in their
! real estate value, and at least s.. 800 900
worth of thOroughbreds. now on the met
ropolitan tracks. would be practically
| yalnolaSS their oWperS would not race