Year: 1867

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The HERALD has reported fully and minutely
the spring meeting at Jerome Park. The third
day surpassed the two previous days in point
Of numbers and general eclat A multitude of
people, representing all classes of society, and
who had hurried on horseback, on foot, in
vehicles Of all sorts, except, perhaps, the
hearse Gin which grimly facetious character
In Richmond once invited lady to ride with
him to the races, all other carriages having
been engaged), met in and about Jerome Park
on Saturday. On their way they had been
blinded by the dust, which ought to have been
and might have been laid, if the roads had
been properly watered like the avenues of the
Park. They had admired the verdure and foli-
age Of the Park, and had then been blinded by
dust again until reaching the narrow, shaded
road which, skirted by villas and cottages,
hedges and trim lawns, leads to Fordham.
No gayer or more crowded scene than
that exhibited ON the undulating acres
Of Jerome Park can have been wit
messed even in the palmy days of
the Fashion Course Probably no greater
variety of people ever assembled at an Ameri-
can race course than met last Saturday, and
gave o popular endorsement to the efforts Of
the Jockey Club to extend an interest in the
turf beyond the circle Of professional turfmen.
In all the vast concourse, indeed there were
comparatively few, excepting the knowing
ones, who talked horse" unless in most
superficial and blundering style. Many of the
spectators cared but little and knew less about
the mysteries of the turf. They chiefly enjoyed
the spectacle, Of which they formed part.
Many dandy whose fine linen was branded
with the conspicuous horseshoe, and no. a few
elegantly dressed bellies, regretted less the
gloves and trinkes which they lost in trifing
bets than their own dusty disarray, occasioned
by the drive out of town. They had come
partly to see and principally to be seen. Of
course ii is not on such spectators that the
Jockey Club can mainly rely 70 aid their
ambition to inaugurate, at the grand meeting
in June, TO which this Spring meeting is merely
preliminary, a genuine revival Of interest in the
American turf But this brilliant gathering Of
fashionable spectators admirably sets off, like
parterre OF flowers, the vast human





attesting the obvious fact that the people are
ready to appreciate and share the interest, the
growth of which the veteran patrons OF the
turf some of whose names figure prominently
among the members of the Jockey Club, have
done so much to promote and have watched
so vigilantly in past years at the Fashion
Course, the Paterson Course the Saratoga
races and the Hoboken race track, and more
recently at the Jerome Park. The salient and
most hopeful feature Of this spring meeting is
the growing disposition which it has brought
to light on the part OF the people at large to
sustain the Jockey Club in promoting the
interests Of the turf Liberal subscriptions on
play on the part Of their guests, will prove
insufficient to secure the avowed objects OF the
club, unless less exclusive and more general


interest In the turf il enlisted. More generous
inducements than have vet been offered should
tempt the owners of the very best horses in the
country to bring and enter them here for com
petition. Only thus can improved breeding
and training and better racing be the sure
result.


Like the taste for opera, the taste for the
turf is acquired. Both the one and the other
have been Of slow and somewhat difficult
growth in the United States. After years Of
toll and heavy expense the Academy Of Mu sic,


warmly and strongly encouraged by the


HERALD had become quite successful That


the public ear and eye had been educated to a
progressively higher standard Of artistic excel


lence was shown by the plaudts bestowed on
such favorites as Adelina Patti and Miss Kel-


logg and particularly by the universal enthu.


siasm with which the genius Of Ristori was re-


cognized, and the million Of francs with whicf


her unrivalled representations were rewarded


throughout the length and breadth Of the land


But for some time previous to the welcome


with which Ristori was hailed On her arrival u


New York the Academy Of Music had been grad
ually losing the prestige Which u mad won.