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RACING GOSSIP Volunteer one of the best of several keen editorial writers on The Horse Review the lead ¬ ing organ of the trotting turf is more than com ¬ plimentary about a contribution by the editor of DAILY EACING FORM to the Christmas num ber of that noble paper The contribution was one about the trotters with which the writer used to mix Volunteer says sf the tale of a seasons experience with the nobles of the har ¬ ness brigade brigadeAmoLg AmoLg the many good things in the Christ ¬ mas Review Frank Brunells story One Year Down the Grand Circuit is one of the best Brunell is among the highest authorities and critics east or west Years of training made him the best sporting editor to my idea ever employed on a Chicago paper and I always look back to the days of his regime on the Tribune with regret He has the mechanics of his craft es completely under his control as Paderewski his piano keys and for crisp cool judgment of men and horses I know of no other man just his equal None was ever more eminently sane in his criticisms or less apt to be led astray by the heat of a momentary enthusiasm Added to this he has a way of putting his thoughts upon paper equally characteristic His style is as unmistakable and peculiarly his own as Car lylas and what he can compress into a para ¬ graph without crampiner himself or suggesting that he haa written a word lesa than he would have had a column been at his disposal I never cease to wonder at His Christmas contribu ¬ tion fairly bristles with epigrams which sparkle and glint with aphorisms which condense into a sentence the crystallized thought and judg ¬ ment of years of experience and observation Brunell write little nowadays his editorial work carrying him along a different line and it is to ba deplored that a pen from which such keen and clear cut sentences drop as naturally as the ink flows should be so seldom used Mr E C Cowdon of Mt Kisco NY is col ¬ lecting a select stud having bought Spinaway and her daughter Handspun Spinaway was one of the greatest twoyearold performers this country has ever known and at the stud every ¬ thing she has foaled can gallop Strideaway Monmouth Lazzarone Handspun were all animals of great speed Mr Cowdon although a joung man has evidently been a close student c f tho stud book as ho told me that he intended having only the best mares and was not going t experiment He wants only the winning families and mares which have themselves slKiwn speed in public races This is the policy which made Lord Falmouth the most success ¬ ful of modern breeders breedersA A lot of Eastern fatheads in the literary line are again suggesting turf nnity Turf unitys a good thing if a reasonable system caa be cre ¬ ated for it Americas broad though and con ¬ ditions that will embrace all sections seem to bo out of reach The same Eastern fatheads through the press associations suggest that tlo Western Turf Congress move toward nnity at a meeting which it opines will be held this month It puts this suggestion into words and the other fatheads of newspaperism here and there allow the matter to be published As a matter of fact the Western or American Turf engross is not to hold a meeting this winter and spring It will meet in a regular way next fall Of course if the case was of sufficient im ¬ portance a special meeting could bo called Eat there doesnt seem to be any case at all The nnity idea is all right With keen men of br jad ideas ap its guaradians it would be worth fifty meetings of fifty associations But where arr the men and the men of breadth and nobil ¬ ity enough to mould the queer material of the American turf One of the features introduced for the Brook ¬ lyn spring is the Maploton selling handicap This is a style of race common in England but has not been tried much hero Instead of the horses being entered to be sold for a given price as in most selling races the winner is to bo sold for 1500 and the horses are weighted by the handicapper aa in regular handicaps This may bo unpopular with those who like selling races on the ground that they can weight their own horses but it breaks up the abuse to which they have put these races by entering a horse worth 2500 for 500 and tbus getting in at such light weight as to make the race a certainty Speaking of Henry of Navarre reminds me writes Capt Absolute in the current Horseman that a friend who saw his yearling brother at Brookale recently tells me that he is a much better looking colt than Henry But in truth Henry was not a paragon of beauty and I have seen him when he was not impressive Indeed Henry of Navarre was like some men whose ap ¬ pearance belies them I consider Henry one of the best horses I have seen of late years a truly great race horse His brother is said to have bean highly tried which is pleasant to hoar as his owners the Messrs Thompson paid the highest price paid for a yearline last season seasonOf Of course the colt was sold on his brothers reputation and it is curious to note that Henry of Navarres dam Moss Rose relies wholly upon Dominos conqueror for her fame She had four foals before she had Henry none of which were of any account and the filly Cath ¬ erine Henrys younger sister has done nothing to add to the family reputation
