THE GREAT TRACK MEETING

Opening of the Fort Erie Jockey Club

A GRAND SUCCESS

[Welland Tribune, 18 June 1897]

The inaugural meeting of the Fort Erie Jockey Club began on Wednesday, and the opening day proved a brilliant debut for this new and enterprising sporting association. Perhaps the attendance was slightly below the anticipation of the management, but the crowd will no doubt increase as the merits of the meeting are better known. Jubilee Day, Dominion Day and Independence Day will no doubt contribute enormous crowds.

The track, grand stand, refreshment and betting rooms, barns, etc., will be the finest on the continent when completed, but there is considerable finishing yet to be done.

Nothing is lacking, however, to give the races all the pleasure and excitement necessary to the success of such a meeting, and a delighted throng of five or six thousand people left the track at the close of the program.

The grand stand is a mammoth structure of solid iron frame, seated with modern chairs, and giving spectators a grand view of the whole course. The judge’s stand is a neat structure shaded by a giant “parachute,” but the band stand is not yet erected.

The barns are constructed on the same liberal scale as all other buildings on the grounds, and when the stables are all completed Gravesend, Saratoga, Windsor, and other club barns throughout the continent will be completely eclipsed. The track itself is a model and very fast, and by today the steeple-chase courses and polo grounds will be ready for the jumpers and polo ponies.

Wednesday’s bill included six runs, and all were well contested with a hot finish under the wire. In the third race Innes’ bay mare Stake ran like the wind and won the greatest victory of the day. The time was 1.42, only 1 ¼ seconds behind the fastest mile ever made in Canada. A prettier run has not been seen anywhere this season, and the winning jockey was loudly applauded. The first race of the day was won by Ellsmere, a Canadian horse, owned by D.A. Bole of Woodstock.

The attendance was estimated at five thousand and the refreshment booths and betting rings did big business. Seventeen bookmakers were doing business, and some idea of the money they handle may be gained from the fact that they pay $100 a day each for the privilege.

The 74^th Regiment band of Buffalo gave a fine program of music between the runs.

The officials of the track were: John Hood, Buffalo, president; W.M. German, Welland, vice-president; E.W. Oviatt of Buffalo, secretary; W.S. Tremaine, C.E. Norris, J.R. Stirling, Buffalo, managing committee; Messrs. Tremaine, German and Pringle (Toronto), stewards; Joseph J. Burke of New York, judge; W.J. Fitzpatrick of Saratoga, starter; A.H. Mills of Brooklyn, clerk of course; Frank Nelson of Toronto, handicapper; Richard Burke of New York, timer.

The train arrangements were perfect, both G.T.R. and M.C.R., giving first-class accommodation. The G.T.R. had the advantage of running direct to the track, and carried the bulk of the train crowd. Messrs. Colcleugh, Coulhurst, and other G.T.R. officials, handled their people with great satisfaction to the track management and the public.

Scores of minor officials and employees swarmed in all parts of the grounds, and we are free to admit that Welland was well represented on the pay roll.

The police managements were perfect. Chief Young of the Ontario police and officers Griffin and Mains, working in harmony with detectives from Buffalo, Hamilton and Toronto, kept the grounds pretty clear of the thug element. Many suspicious characters were escorted to the gate and given ticket of leave, while others were run into a coop and on Thursday morning fined $20 or sent to jail for twenty days. Two paid fines and eleven were grouped and sent to Welland in charge of officers Metcalfe, Seger and Shisler. Chief Young and staff deserve great credit for their clever handling of the unwashed.

Officers Oviatt, German and the management generally were constant in their efforts to have the meeting right up to high water mark, and they so far succeeded admirably. The press are comfortably located in the first row of the grand stand, wires connecting with Buffalo giving faculties for instant transmission of the result of every race the moment the horses cross the wire.

All lovers of good running and good music, who wish to spend an afternoon amid bright and interesting surroundings, should not fail to book themselves for a day with the Fort Erie Jockey Club.

The enclosure on Wednesday contained many handsome turnouts, including four tally-hos well freighted with the beauty and fashion of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Mayor Jewett and many other well- known and prominent men occupied conspicuous seats in the boxes, and as the meeting advances and proves itself of that high standard that deserves liberal public recognition, the attendance will be even larger.

One thing is certain, that the Fort Erie Jockey Club deserves all the success that can be laid at its doors. The club worked against great odds and fought an uphill fight. Eight weeks ago the grounds were a barren clay mud hole, and in spite of almost endless rainy weather ever since, track and buildings have arisen as if by magic, until the Fort Erie Jockey Club can boost of the finest racing grounds on the continent.

Every day will give a great list of events, and Canadians will no doubt turn out largely to the meeting, especially on Jubilee day, when extra efforts will be made to make the bill worthy of the day. Now that the races are an assured success all the railways and steamers and busses are hustling to excel each other in giving good traffic accommodation. Wellanders will find good service on both railways, with special trains leaving Fort Erie about 5.40 each evening.

The stabling of four hundred horses and the boarding of nearly one thousand men for a season each year will prove a fine thing for the farmers, who will ready sale for their hay, grain and produce at good cash prices.