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i . GOSSIP OF THE TURF. William McGulgan, the "Sage of Arkansaw"-may have retired from the turf in person but not with his pen. He has opinions about the racing situation and horsey things in general and some of them, as communicated to a friend in Louisville by letters, are not without a de- gree of interest. Williams calculation of the big sum some people imagine is stored away in the strong box of the Turf Congress will appeal to Secretary Ed Hopper. He puts it on information at 133,000 and then figures that from trainers license fees at 5 and jockeys license fees at 0, this sum will be more than doubled by June next. As it will require at least a thousand trainers and a thousand jockeys it must be that the western list of trainers and jockeya is about to be prodigiously increased or else there is something awry with the mathematics of the picturesque retired turfman. That part of bis letter published is as follows: "There are two horses in my mind that will race for the western Derbys. These are Kentucky Colonel and W. Overton. Of course there is no telling this early in the season what they are going to be in their three-year-old forms, but it would be well to put down a bat or two in the winter books on both these animals. At Washington Park Overton was certainly a grand colt, perhaps the best that raced in the west. Kentucky Colonel was also at one time a really great colt, and is one likely to improve as a three-year-old. Frank Bell is a good, honest colt, but hardly such a one as would be likely to make a Derby horse. There are others of more or less note, such as Manuel, but the vicissitudes of wintering horses are so numerous that it is not worth while saying more about them at present. Real, sure enough. Derby horses like Ben Brush are not to be found every year. And still he was beaten, but not because he was not the crack of the year. If I tried to pick the winner of the Derbys up the line at Louisville, Latonia, Oakley, St. Louis, etc., I would say Kentucky Colonel. But if Overton trains well, and does not increase his mean temper, it will take a good one to beat him. As soon as I see them take their March and April gallops I will be better able to judge of their chances as Derby candidates. "The conditions of the race3 throughout almost the entire west are such as to make a horse that will sell at auction for from ,000 up almost useless unless he is a two or three-year-old and well entered in stakes. After a horse in the west has won two or three events, the races are so conditioned that he cannot win unless he runs in cheap selling affairs. But even these are so arranged generally as to exclude all except a lot of beaten non-winners of anything but selling races. This is done to get a big entry of valueless dogs, as the poolrooms and bookies want big entries in order to increase their chances of plucking the public. Nearly every race conditioned for good horses is declared off because the management demands four or more to start, not discriminating properly between high and low class fields. Chicago was somewhat better last year as to high class racing, more especially so at Washington Park. "I have been informed by a member of the Turf Congress that there was 3,000 in their treasury. The 5 license fee for trainers and 0 jockey license will more than double that amount by June, and the sum total will reach in the neighborhood of 0,000. I suggest that they lend it on good security to the breeders of Kentucky at 6 per cent to weed out the poor sticks that are now contesting for the purses. I asked a member of the Turf Congress what was to be done with all this money, and he said there had been some talk of giving Turf Congress Stakes. Now, this would be all right, and it would also be appropriate to have a fund to assist disabled jockeys and trainers. The money received as licenses from jockeys and trainers suould in some way revert back to. them."
