Kirkover Is Gone but Cup Leadership Is Experienced 27Th Carolina Cup
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MRS. SCOTT IN CHARGE r- , v £- - 11 1- :i ^ 27th Carolina Cup Kirkover Is Gone but Cup To Be Run Saturday Leadership Is Experienced RQy By BILL RONE N MARCH 2S this year, a the rule relative to the wear has made :t "out to be. Having© AnUtant Sporlt Editor O crowd of thousands of sport ing of colors. It should be a been led so far astray, people CAMDEN-Harcy D ing people representing over note of great interest to South can hardly be expected to con was ©Mr. Carolina Cup© from the half the Stales in the Union will Carolinians that the South Caro time the steeplechase racei were converge on Camden, to see cede any honest sentimentality established here In 1930 until last the 27th annual meeting of the lina Jockey Cub was the first or even goo-1 sportsmanship in year. Carolina Cup Races. To many ruling body in racing history to what appears to be merely big The esteemed Mr. Kirkover, in this crowd, the meanings and insist on proper adornment of business. Steeplechasing, how elegantly attired and decked out the riders. the traditions behind this rather ever, can, rind does, do much in a bowler hat, has always been special sporting treat are fa During the period of the Con the personification of the Cup pro to correct Uiat too-prevalent mis gram. miliar knowledge. But this is not federate War, racing in Cam- conception. Compared to flat-1 It was Kirkover who first en- so for the greater number of den was discontinued and was visioned the magnificent Spring- race viewers, especially for not revived until 1930. The racing the highest purses lor© dale race course here when the those who will be seeing a present site for the Carolina jump races at tracks for the i property was a corn field. It was steeplechase for the first time Cup was established when two most part small, and at the | he who aco^Jired the property with members of the Camden Hunt the financial backing of the late when they visit the Springdale "Hunt meetings" the cash value Club, Harry Kirkover and Er is less still, almost to the point Ernest L, Woodward and laid out Course this year. nest Woodward, purchased the [the course along the lines of tracks In order that these more un of being insignificant. i he had seen and admired In Eur initiated racing fans might en site of the old IStn^ Century The words above are only a ope, joy more of a veteran©s insight Camden race course. The Inau shallow scriping of what lies It was Kirkuver who headed into what is behind this day of gural Meeting sponsored by the behind "Cup day," but perhaps the Carolina Cup committee for it is enough to give some little all these years. RARRY 0. KIRKOVER MRS. MARION SCOTT flags, fences, horses, and men new group was held in March, Cup Kacev Are AtUI . to Experienced Hand* in brightly colored silks, I will bit of new meaning to the new For the first time on March 1930, and the feature event was 128, the Cup races will be run with oughbreds has trained in Cam- endeavor here to scratch the comers to Springdale, and to out the presence of Kirkover, who den under James E. Ryan since surface of the rich history of the now world-famous "Carolina you too, oldtimers, I died last December. 1932. Her horses have won many horse racing. Cup" which is run over a gruel- His absence will be keenly felt, races here. Steeplechusuig, the term ap ing three miles of timber fences. (of course, but experienced hands A resident of Upperville, Va., I people associated actively with plied to the* sport of racing Mr. Woodward and Mr. Kirk Mellon wintered his horses here horses over obstacles, is a word [the Cup for many years will be over have died, but a fitting me at the helm. (or a number of years. His jump which, to all best knowledge, Mrs. Marion duPont Scott has er, Faction Fighter, won the morial to these two fine old I succeeded Kirkover as chairman Carolina Cup timber race In 1939 had its origin among foxhunters sportsmen can be seen today !of the executive committee. Serv and 1940 and his Rustic Romance in England. It is accepted sport ing with her fire F. Ambrose scored in 1942. in one of the truly great steeple [dark, Mrs. Esther duPont TTvxi- Williams ix the only full-time ing legend that on some un-re- chase courses in the entire ron, Paul Mellon and David R Caipoen resident on the com corded date, a hunt, unwearied world. [Williams. mittee. Owner of Mulberry Plan by the chase was homeward At first view, the newcomer No one in the country has con tation here, Williams has been] bound when an imaginative soul to the Springdale Course will tributed more to steeplechasing actively associated with bunting see a maze of obstacles and lover the past quarter century and racing here since the begin among them suggested, "Urt©y than Mrs. Scott, former wife o! flags, the latter having much ning of the Carolina Cup. He ha* race to you steeple ..." and more than a decorative role as | actor Randolph Scott. also been the principal patron off race they did, going over, under, Without this lady from Mont polo here. they mark the boundaries of the , Va., the thoroughbred or through every obstacle that courses raced over. The obsta The detailed management. oi EC horse, a part of Camden©s tra u presented itself. After that, cles are of three general types: ditkm lor a century, might wel the Cup program continues in PC "steeplechasing," or hunt racing have disappeared from the local the hands of Raymond G. Woolfe( who trains Mrs. Scott©s jumpers as it also became known, be the hurdle and the large brush I scene, came more and more a sepa- fence, both which are construct In 3938, Mrs, Scott built the mile and runs her training training track here where top ment here. Woolfe has been as rate sport in itself, gradually ed from brush and poles and flat racers have trained each sociated with Kirkover in th* run taking on accepted rules and are representative of the old i winter. She owns most of the ning of the race program lor | formalities. hedge rows hunted over in Eng i stabling facilities here. two decades. The first official steeplechase The great Springdale course With this lineup of executives,| land; and the timber fence on record in America was run at .which is used only once a year the Carolina Cup is assured of which is the stiffest of the three is maintained only at consider maintaining its place as oru* of Paterson, New Jersey in 1865 |able expense. In 1949, Mrs. Scott South Carolina©s greatest days in] however, organized turf activi types. It is a note of interest ; assumed complete responsibility sport. ties in South Carolina date back that "Battleship" the only Amer for the upkeep of the course aij as far as 1802 when the first ican bred and owned horse ever in the early 196G©s, she accnjirr race meeting was held in Cam | the property for the estate of Mr to win the lamed Grand Nation den. F. Ambrose Clark. al at Aintree, England was Mr. Hark, of New York and The Camden Jockey Club was Aiken, is one of the patriarchs Incorporated in 1816, and it is trained and raced In his first [of raring in the United States. He a significant fact that many o two starts over brush fences has participated, either as an the rules ( the old Camden at the Camden course. I owner of horses or as a steward Steeplecha&mg is for sporting | in most of the Cup programs. group and the South CaroUna people who !ikc their racing in Mrs. Thouron©s stable of thor- Jockey Cluo are today incorpo an unpretentious atmosphere and rated in the iule* of the Jockey in sporting surroundings, con ducted as a sport instead of Club of America. One of these, what seems to be the highly and probably the most notable commercialized business that to the world©s racing fans, is headlines of racing at big tracks.