fir
7
JAMES R. KEENE RECEIVING CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING
2--, ): C 1
THOMAS HITCHCOCK. JR.
I
T IS predicted that a larger num
ber of those Croeeuses who live
chiefly to promote high-class rac-
3ffiBs lng in the United States will b-
Saratoga race track tomorrow than have
ever before been In evidence on the open
ing day of a race meeting. For the be
ginning of the Saratoga season this year
la really the formal launching of a new
dispensation In American turf matters, tho
aim of the Saratoga association, as voiced
oft and again by Its president, William C.
Whitney, being to place horse racing in
this country on a higher level than ever
before. To this end Mr. Whitney and his
associates have taken an Immense amount
of personal pains, beside laying out a
sum of money closely approximating $350,
000. In rejuvenating the track and all that
appertains thereto. They have llsked
heavily on the willingness and ability of
their fellow citizens to support a great
race track hundreds of miles distant from
any of the great centers of population, and
failure, should It come, will not be due
to the absence of any of the promoters
the send-off. If they can possibly be
present. Thus tomorrow will be a great
day for the visitor to Saratoga not already
acquainted with the personal peculiarities
of the various kings of the turf.
James R. Keene, tall, spare, wearing a
shining silk hat, and immaculately but
quietly clad, will be one of the most In
teresting figures In sight. He la not an
officer of the association, but he is Intensely
interested in Its success, and has promised
to be on hand. His picturesque prominence
in the public prints for a score of years
or more make him the observed of many
observers wherever bis prenence Is known
and he will be pointed out and gossiped
over by thousands before the day Is over.
Janiea H. Keene'a Eye.
Among the Jockeys and the trainers, the
stable boys, the bookmen and all the other
racetrack professionals Mr Keene stands
very near to the top of the list. This is
largely because of his eye. It Is keen, alert
and all-seeing. There Is no devotee of
racing on either side of the water who goes
Into the sport In a more businesslike man
ner than he. Before every race In which
he la interested he spends as long a time
In the paddock as be can, paying strict at
tention to his own horses. He watches the
saddling as Intently as If millions depended
upen the operation. Nothing escapes him.
and his silent scrutiny he never speaks un
less something goes wrong keeps his em
ployes keyed up to the keenest tension.
If by any chance he detects anything
amiss there Is something doing at once.
Keene never speaks to the Jockey, or the
stable boy, or the groom who may bo at
fault, though. It Is to the trainer only that
American Croesuses and the Race Track
1
:
'J
WILLIAM
this racing magnate addresses himself, and,
no matter bow severe may be the opinion
or criticism he has to express, his vocab
ulary, though forceful, is always well in
hand, and there are few, Indeed, who have
ever heard him swear.
When the race Is ready to be run Mr.
Keene hies himself to the most available
location for the watching of the contest. At
Sheepsbead Bay this Is the upper veranda
of the clubhouse, and upon it he stands,
with set face, strong glasses glued to his
eyes from the beginning to the end of tho
race and Immovable as a statue. He risks
heavily at times, of course, but Is rarely or
never seen In the betting ring, employing
a "commissioner," a big and burly Briton,
to place his bets. Sometimes this man li
kept exceedingly busy running back and
forth between the ring and wherever Ke.ne
may happen to be. The commissioner often
takes his part in the betting far more seri
ously than Keene does himself. The master
never turns a hair, no .matter whether he
wins or loses, receiving congratulations and
condolences alike with stoicism, but his
commissioner frequently becomes quite
wrought up over an unexpected loss.
Nerve of Millionaire Bettors.
The underlings of the racetrack are as
much enamored of Keene because he's a
gocd loser as they are because of his eagle
eye, but nerve in losing racing bets Is an
attribute possessed by nearly all the mil
lionaire turfmen. You'd have hard work to
tell from his face whether Whitney, or John
Sanford, or Clarence Mackay, or August
Belmont, or any of the rest cf them were to
the gocd or the bad, but this Isn't surpris
ing, seeing that the largest sum they are
likely to win or to lose Is not sufficient to
change their bank accounts perceptibly. It's
the man who risks all he has on a race that
bu need of nerve when he bets.
"Keene has this sort of nerve In quanti
ties, even If he doesn't have to exercise It
when betting on a race," says a man who
has k'nown him in his (lushest as well as in
h!s most stringent periods.
"Theie was one day, long ago," says this
man, "when Jim Keene had to borrow the
railroad fare (rem Cedarhurst on Long
Island to New York before he could get to
town to try and make a raise. Well, on
that day be appeared the same cool, shrewd,
nervy chap that he seems today; Just as
n(at In his dress, though his clothes weren't
so new, and quite as aloof from the common
heid. Nobody on earth would have thought
him short cf cash. Another thing: Jamea R.
Keene Is well fixed now I wish I had half
his money and might well afford a spacious
country house and a palatial city residence,
but he has neither. When be is Jn New
York he puts up at the Waldorf Astoria,
and when he is at Cedarhurst he lives in
the same wooden cottage I don't believe It
A RACE.
C. WHITNEY AND PARTY GOINO TO THE
C3t a cent mere than $5,000 that he called
home in the days of his hardest luck. There
wes a time then when the celling of the
p rch of this house showed a great scar
where the plaster had fallen off. That scar
was heakd long ago, and the house and lawn
are now a good deal neater in appearance
than they were, but otherwise the house ti
p.actlcaly unchanged."
William K. Vanderbllt, Bettor.
Of all the Croesus bettors on the turf
Wi'liam K. Vanderbllt Is tho most Interest
ing, pei h p'. He goes Into the Tin Just ll'ie
any ordinary bettor, and he makes as bis
a shew of his emotions as he would If his
fortune depended upon success. He looks
anxious, uncertain, uplifted or cast down
according to his luck. Sometimes he "b:efs"
when he loses, and often he gets so wrought
up that his eyes stick out of his head like
the eyes of a boy playing an exciting game
of marbles. It Isn't because he cares for
the money, when things go the wrong way,
that he stirs up the turf so, say his friends,
but because he gets so wrapped up In the
game. That's one of the reasons he Is
so popular with the professionals about the
racetracks. He won't be at Saratoga on
the opening day, more's the pity, for the
sake of entertainment, being otherwise en
gaged in France at this time.
Like James R. Keene, Mr. Whitney never
goes into the betting ring personalty, his
bets being placed for him by hie son-in-law's
brother, Sidney Paget. It la through
Paget, indeed, that Whitney transacts most
of his racing business, and that's a good
thing alike for Paget, Whitney and the
turf In general. Paget, being English,
was born to the turf, so to speak, and natu
rally knows a good deal more about racing
than most folk. Whitney baa the en
thusiasm and the money necessary to make
a great racing factor of himself, but among
experts he's considered too easily carried
away by his enthusiasm. Thus, mere than
once Mr. Whitney has paid a fabulous sum
for some horse that has done one big stunt,
only to find later that the price paid was
altogether too high. Since Paget has been
a full racing partner of the' form r naval
secretary such Whitney purchases have"
been less conspicuous, and the horses in
the Whitney stable have been much better
selected.
Handsome H. T. Wilson, Jr.
In his way almcst as interesting cn the
track as either Keene or Whitney, or W.
K. Vanderbllt, Is R. T. Wilson, Jr. Like
Keene, young Wilson Is seldom seen per
sonally in the betting ring, generally dele
gating the placing of bets to Harry Vlngut,
a personage not very well known the coun
try over, but thoroughly typical of New
York and the race courses near-by, and
well known among the habitues thereof.
i
R. T. WILSON. JR., INSTRUCTING HIS
.rs
1
L
TRACKS.
SIDNEY PAGET, W.
There Is a rumor that ha has done very
well at his wagering this year so far, and
his advice is Just so much the more valu
able to his friends who may ask him to
place their bets.
Young Wilson, by the by, is almost as
handsome for a young man as his father
is for an old one, and that bs saying a
good deal, since next to the late- Collls V.
Huntington, R. T. Wilson the elder is one
of the best looking men of years that ever
stepped toot In New York. More than
that, he has aristocratic bearing and man
ners, too, and the young man share both
these characteristics, as befits cne whese
Bisters are married to a British ambas
sador, a Goelet and a Vanderbllt. It is
not certain whether any of tho Bisters
will be present on Saratoga's opening day
or not, but probably one or more of them
will be, and If so, both their celebrity and
thtAr striking personal appearance will
make them the focus of as many eyes as
any of the turf celebrities. The oldest of
the Wilson sisters, wife of Ambassador
Herbert, who will come to America with
her husband soon, Is quite as handsome
aa her Bisters, Mrs. Ogde-n Goelet and Mrs..
Cornelius Vanderbllt, but not so striking
In appearance, for they are both blonde,
while her hair Is a quiet shade of brown.
Young Wilson is one of the best losers in
the country.
I'owrr la the t'lnb.
Nearly all the tuif celebrities who wilt
be prominent at Saratoga represent wads,
and heaps, and piles and chunks of mjuey,
but none of the others will n present nearly
as much, both directly and indirectly, as
the quiet-lcoking, middle-sized, middle
tinted, middle-aged man whom some of his
Intimates term "Augle." This Is Augustus
Belmont, the present head of the banking
house of Belmont, aud personal representa
tive in America of ths multl-inlllioned
Rothschilds. Mr. Belmint'a name is not
listed among the officer of the Saratoga
association, but he's a power In the or
ganization, and h fills the place for so
many years held by his father as the main
stay of American high-class racing.
It goes without saying that he knows the
ways, of, the turf thoroughly, and It may
be added'tbat he Is a better h:reman per
sonally 'than mmt millionaire patrons of
the tracks. Both his brothers Perry, who
married Mrs. Sloane, and who was once,
but Is not now, a power In politics, and
Oliver H. P., who married Mrs. William
K. . Vanderbllt are likely to be on the
grounds tomorrow. Perry Is a director
of the association. Both he and Oliver P
H. dabble somewhat in racing, but not at
all In the degree that their brother August
does. August is the most popular of the
three among their associates. None of
'4
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JOCKEY.
V. vr'
f '. t -.;'
'-.-
C. WHITNEY'S RACINO PARTNER.
them is communicative to reporters, where
in they differ from Mr. Whitney and most
high-grade turfmen.
There are only a few of the racing ce
lebrities certain to be on vleiw at Saratoga
tomorrow, and there is hardly room on this
newspaper page to pay a compliment to
each of them. But surel? no mention of
Saratoga's opening would be. complete that
did not Include Thomas Hitchcock, jr., and
John Sanford of Amsterdam, Jolly, go:d-na-tured
and popular, and prone to be photo
graphed with his hands on the ribbons. Mr.
Sanford U one of the best liked of all the
eastern turfmen, nor is his fame confined
to racing circles, for was he not elected to
the house of representatives a few years
ago from his-up-atate district? And was
he not then the youngest congressman who
ever served? Sanford, like most of them,
has a nerve of steel when it comes to lose,
and so has Thomas Hitchcock, Jr.
The biggest "event" at Saratoga this year
will be the Saratoga special, a sweepstakes,
with entrance fee of $1,000 and a forfeiture
of half that sum. This race will be worth
more to the winner than either the Subur
ban or the Brooklyn Handicap, the amouut
being $22,000. Besides a gold cup worth
$1,500 will be put up. The stakes of this
race are gradually to be Increased till they
count up to $50,000.
One of the things about which there will
be some grumbling at Saratoga will be 'hi
price of grandstand seats $3 Just a d liar
more than at other tracks.. This will be off
set, however, by the general admission be
ing put at 60 cents, 25 cents less than gen
eral admission to most tracks.
Too Busy
Chicago Tribune: "Can't I sell you a
clock?" asked the man at the kitchen door.
"No. you can't," replied the woman of
the house, red and flustered. "Hain't got
time to wind It."
"But this Is an eight day clock. You
don't have to wind it oftener than once a
week."
"Hain't got any time to wind eight day
clocks. We had one in the house twelve
years. I wound it regular every Monday
morning. It always took me a minute to
wind both sides of it. One day I got to
ccuntiu' how much time I'd spent on It.
There's fifty-two weeks In a year. Twelve
times fifty-two is 624. Six hundred and
twenty-four minutes is ten hours and
twenty-four minutes. In them twelve
years I'd put In a whole workln' day and
more, too, wlndln" that dratted clock. I
put It up In the garret and hain't touched
It since. Don't need a clock, anyway. We
can go by the whistles. I've got a bllln' on
the stove, and I've throwed awsy two
minutes talkln' to you. Good montn'.
And she shut the door in his face.