Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-12
JUAREZ TRACK
WILL BE RUSHED
PLAN FOR BIG OPENING ON
THANKSGIVING
RACE PLANT ACROSS BORDER
WILL BE FAST
American Horsemen Are Much Inter-
ested in Progress Made at Mexl-
can Slte-Will Be Thor
ouehIy Modern

the center OF a plowed and bordered
field in Mexico, just beyond the last
tumbledown house on the San Lorenzo
road, in the outskirts of Juarez, which
is across the river from Ell Paso, a
covey of Americans have located, built
a temporary office out of rough pine,
installed telephone and, after order
ing a ton of ice and wagonload of
distilled water, they have started In
to make the irrigated fields into the
fastest and best known race track on
the northern hemisphere, the acequia
bank the site of the most modern con-
crete grandstand ever built and the
meadow land the location of fair and
exposition grounds which will cover 300
| acres of good Mexican adobe soil.
Legislated out of business in New
York, California and almost every 9TH
| er SPOT in these free United States ex-
| cept a small strip of real estate in Ken
lucky, the owners of the running
horse stock in the country are turn
| ing their field glasses southwark in
the direction of the Mexican border,
where Colonel Winn has promised
| them free and unlimited betting at the
ratio of 16 to 1 or any part of 1t. COL
| onel Matt" is to be the Moses who
| will lead the horse owners out of the
wilderness of adverse laws to the prom
ised land of manana, where man can
back his opinion of a horse's merits as
| a runner.
A field, a we'll, and rough pine Of
flee are all there is to the proposed
Juarez Jockey club plant at present,
but the engineers are figuring over
blueprint puzzles and deciphering
complicated estimates on concrete,
steel, cement, levels and a thousand
other details that must be worked out
before the race track construction
| starts.
Three Hundred Acre Site
The track site has not yet been Sc
lected. although an ideal location for
one Just east of the site where the tenn
porary building has been erected will
probably be selected. This includes a
large part of the 300 acres which have
been secured for the racing plant, and
| it is as level as a floor from border to
border Little grading will have to be
done aside from what is necessary to
get the track perfectly level and for
the building sites. Neither has the site
for the 5000 capacity grandstand been
|
as the track is decided upon.
l This track will be mile and a fur
+ long, with a half mile and mile
chute, or straightaway, in connection
for the running of the dashes. The
soil for both the track and the chutes
will be manufactured from a mixture
of the adobe, which is to be found
everywhere ON the ground, and other
| ingredients which will be brought in.
In addition to the main grandstand,
which is to be a combination of the
good points in all of the American
and foreign grandstands, there will
be the paddock, the office, the betting
stand, the casino and field stand for
the native element. Later it is expect
| ed to erect a large concrete hotel and
buildings for holding fair and expo
sition in connection with the running
races, Col. Winn says. The grand
stand, which will be of reinforced con-
| crete and of mission design, will have
| O. capacity of 5000 people and will have
dome shaped roof, much after the
style, of the Paris racecourse stand.
The Office building will be 70x100 feet
| and will contain offices for the man
| ager, the starters, secretaries and all
| of the other officials of the meeting.
The paddock will be made of adobe,
with corrugated iron roof and concrete
foundation, and will accommodate 500
horses. The casino will include no.
| tel, cafe and lounging rooms, in ad-
| dition to wide mission porches. the
| field stand is to be for the use of the
natives, who will be admitted one or
two days of each week free, and the
event will be made a gala day with
these people.
Plan Early Opening
1t is the present intention of the man
agement to have the grand opening OF
the Juarez track on Thanksgiving day,
when a purse of $4,000 gold will be hung
| up for the chihuahua Handicap stake,
which will be attended by the officials
of the Chihuahua state government.
The other prizes will be $1,000 for each
| day, and the racing Will continue SIX
| days each week for 100 days. Every
| thing is being built of the most sub
stantial material. and the promoters
seem to have all possible confidence in
the permanent success of the project.
Concrete mixers have already been
unloaded on the ground, the we'll is
being driven and the engineers are busy
running lines and levels for the pro-
jected track.
In addition to H. L. Stevens. who has
the contract for the construction work
on the plant, the men in charge OF the
work are =. p. Moorehead. superin-
tendent; M. M. Mendoza of Juarez en-
York, secretary. Only a small force
of men are now being employed on the
preliminary work, but it is expected to
have a force of 500 on the job when 1t
is in full swing.
The site of the new track is about
mile and a half southwest of Juares
plaza, to the right of the main road
running down the Mexican side of the
river A large part of the land in
cluded in the track site has already
been secured. and the negotiations are
now pending for the remainder. One
section of this land was formerly owned
by S. Montemayor, the mayor of
Juarez, who left for Canada when an
investigation of certain of his private
operations was made by the Mexican
government
A small Mexican flag floats from the
top of the Office building to indicate
the spot where the track is to be
located.