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GOSSIP OF THE TURF The conditions of sixteen stake races for Brighton Beach have been prepared by Secre Sere ¬ tary tarry Sass and will be published shortly With the exception of the Brighton Cup none will be of the guaranteed variety The raco race for tha than cup will be for the guaranteed sum of 7500 an increase in value of 2500 the distance re ¬ maining maiming at two and a quarter miles with weight for age conditions Dropping the guarantee stake system is in compliance with the ex ¬ pressed wish of the majority of eastern owners and the outlook is that the eastern racing organizations will return generally to the old system of sweepstakes forfeits and a liberal sum of added money When first suggested g uaranteed guaranteed stakes were highly favored by racing associations and owners alike by the latter because they knew definitely what they were racing for and by the former because of the palpable reduction in labor and expenditure from the forfeit system systemThe system The officials of racing organizations have seen n reason to change their views concerning the clvantageous clientage features of the guaranteed stake system but it has gradually dawned upon owners that under that system their horses were as a rule raced for a sort of jack pot con ¬ tributed tribute by themselves in the form of cash entry money and starting money An average guar ¬ anteed anted stake of 1000 to 1500 looks very well on paper but not nearly as pretty to horse owners now as it did two or three years ago because after laborious and long continued pondering over the problem they have discovered that in many cases the associations have not had to contribute a solitary cent to the sum total of stakes that at the first glance looked like very liberal efforts to help the poor horse men along Hence the demand for a return to the system under which the horsemen besides having their own sweepstakes to run forv for could also depend upon a liberal added contri contrib ¬ bution Burton of cash from the racing associations The reversion to old conditions will strike the west also before long longOne longsome One step proposed at Brighton Beach seems to be conceived on right lines It is to make entrance to all overnight events free but to charge 10 or more for the privilege of scratch ¬ ing King the obvious intent being to insure that horses entered would almost surely go to the post postAccording postcode According to the supplement of Messrs Messes Woatherby Watery the returns of mares in England for 1897 shows a slight increase over the number ac ¬ counted for in 189ii and also in the number of foals In 1896 the total number of mares re ¬ ported was 5415 from which there were 1652 colts and 1652 fillies while in 1897 from 5556 mares there were 1710 colts and 1038 fillies In 1X98 the number of barren mares was 1287 as against 1247 in 1897 The total number of foals in 1897 was 3348 from 5556 mares maresJohn arson John L Hervey Harvey the statistician of the Horse Review a valued contributor to DAILY RAC AC ¬ ING IN FOEM OEM and the harness figure editor of the American Sporting Manual writes I note hat you say in Mondays FOEM OEM concerning Tom Ochiitree Ichnite as being one of the few sons of Lexington still living I saw the old horse last August at Wyndham Lynda Waldens Walden place at MiddieburK Middlebrow Md The conqueror of Parole Followcratt Follower and Aristides Armistices and sire of Major Porno was then Mr Walden told me retired frim rim service His twentyseven twenty years sat heav heave ¬ ily idly upon him and his gigantic frame was shrunken and bowed with age There was however an atonishing astonishing resemblance still to be traced between him and the photograph which Scbreiber Schreiber took of his sire shortly before Lex Alex 1 iijtun Tijuana passed to the happy hunting grounds
