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BROOKLYN HANDICAP TODAY. This afternoon the Brooklyn Handicap will be contested by the equine stars of the day. Al- , ways a race of commanding interest, it lacks , nothing this year in comparison with years gone. Such horses as Ethelbert. Jean Beraud, Imp, Box, Batten, and others of todays field are fully as great in point of speed, endurance and ability to successfully carry high weights as the horses that contended for the honors of Brooklyn handicaps already a part of turf history. Eighteen horses are carded to go to the post . this afternoon. Their names, weights and probable riders are as follows. The Kentuckian being a doubtful starter: Horses. A. Rider. Wt. Imp 6 Clawson 128 Ethelbert 4 Maher 127 Jean Beraud 4 Turner 127 . Batten 4 Winkfield 124 Kinley Mack 4 McCue 122 f Prince McClurg 4 Hamilton 118 Box 6 OConnor 118 , Approval 4 Spencer 114 Rafaello 4 Jenkins 113 I Lothario 4 Shaw 107 1 The Kentuckian 4 106 Latson ."» Littlefield 103 Wait Not 4 TBurns 103 i Knight of the Garter 6 J Slack 100 Herbert 3 Mitchell 98 Strathconau 4 Henry 93 Petruchio 3 Rauch 90 Generally the candidates hat! their trials Wednesday, concerning which and other items i of gossip about the big race a New York special says: "At Shi-ep-head Bay the following trials were noted: "Perry Belmonts Ethelbert was sent the distance in 2:10,.-, covering the first mile in 1:41;!.-. "Harness 5c Brossmans famous black mare Imp worked the distance in 2:lt1-,. "VV. C. Whitneys Jean Beraud worked a mile and a quarter well within himself in 2:11:. "Lew Elmores Strathconau covered the route in 2 :12s • and P. H. McCarrens Survivor in | I 2:09 ■;. "Over at Graveseud the horses were timed as | follows: aptain Sam Browns Batten worked in2:10i. M. Murphys Rafaello was tried before daylight and timed with lanterns. His time for the distance was 2:01*4. J. Carrs Wait Not worked the distance iu 2:091, and W. Sho-walters Box went the same distance, sulkily, in 2:18. "I f the Brooklyn were this year as it used to be. the first great race of the season, old Imp, who has been the favorite in the winter books, would go to the post the choice on Saturday. Imps defeats at Washington and Aqueduct have turned her fickle admirers of last season away, and Ethelbert is the popular horse now. "He will go to the po6t a strong favorite, and be deserves the distinction. His success in the Metropolitan Handicap was the best treat, public or private, that any Brooklyn Handicap candidate has had this year. He beat many of the horses that he will have to meet on Saturday without the least effort in an honestly run race, | and there is no reaBou to suppose that he cannot ■ do it at the longer distance. He was running • away from his field at the finish in the i Metropolitan, and if the distance had been a i mile and a quarter his margin of victory would [ have been wider. "Ethelbert has not raced since he won the Metropolitan, but his failure to appear under • silk- has not boon due to a falling away from i the high standard of excellence he showed in i the great Morris Park race. Hie dates were all I in handicaps, and Walter S. Yosburg, the ofli-cial weight adjuster of the Jockey Club, put ; more on his back than Perry Belmont cared to have him shoulder. Mr. Belmont was right. . To have run Ethelbert under 140 pounds in short : sprints at Morris Park would have imperiled I his whole career. , , . . f , I 1 i i | I | | ■ • i i [ • i i I ; . : I "Ethelberts most formidable rival on public form is Rafaello. Tlie Farandole colt was run away back at the finish of the Metropolitan, but twice since the opening day at Morris Park-he has picked up 125 pounds and won overnight handicaps from pretty shifty performers, to whom he was making big concessions in weight. "Rafaello, like Banastar, the other great son of Farandole, is vastly better as a four-year-old than he was in his three-year-old season. He has broadened and thickened wonderfully and looks as well as Ethelbert himself. His action is perfect; he has a great turn of speed, and there is no horse hereabout that can be placed more easily. His sluggishness in the early part of his races will subject him to the danger of being bumped about on Saturday, but his indomitable pluck and the speed that ho has always shown at the end of a race will offset this disadvantage. "The Brooklyn Handicap is generally a hard-run race from fiagfall to finish, and the leaders in the early part of it are generally pretty tired by the time they get to the upper turn. If Rafaello is anywhere near the leader at that stage, no matter who the leader may be, there will be trouble. It must not be forgotten that he beat Ethelbert at a difference of ten pounds against the Eotheu colt, in a mile race at Morris Park last fall, by putting up a more con rageous finish. On Saturday Ethelbert will have to give him thirteen pounds and the extra quarter is greatly in his favor. "Another horse that showed great form at Morris Park is The Kentuckian. The Pirate of Penzance colt picked up 106 pounds on May 14 and stepped off the Withers mile in 1:395, equaling the track record established by Fili-grane in the running of the Metropolitan Handicap last year. The most impressive part of this performance was that he ran the last three furlongs of tliis race in :36i and the last furlong in :12 Hat, and seemed to have some-I thing in reserve at that. "The Kentuckian has apparently returned to his best 2-year-old form. Mr. Simms believes his chances of success on Saturday to be very good. He has not raced since thi6 victory, 1 which, by the way, was over Approval and Wait Not, also Brooklyn eligibles, but he is in fine fettle. Approval is in good shape himself. His best public trial for the Brooklyn was a mile in t l:4Li. on the second day of the Westchester . meeting. "Wait Mots good races were run at Aqueduct. He took up 118 and 126 pounds and beat good I fields at one mile and seventy yards during the » Oueeus County Jockey Clubs spring session. In spite of these good races, the shrewdest judges do not believe that either Wait Not or Approval has much of a chance in the Brooklyn. . They seem to lack the class that crack handicap horses ought to possess. "Box has run three times this season. He won the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct, took c place money in the Metropolitan before Imp, , and was beaten by Lothario and Charentus on i May 8. This defeat should not be held against t the colt. He had just come out of a hard race, , and was asked to make a concession of tweuty-i - six pounds to Lothario, and twelve to Charen- - tus. He has had time to freshen up since that t defeat, and got back into condition. Under an i impost of 118 pounds, he will be a dangerous s horse on Saturday. "Lothario will not do. He covered a mile in a 1 :40i when he beat Box and Charentus, but it t was the first creditable race that he had run for r many months and he is not a repeater. "The doughtiest opponents that; Ethelbert, , Rafaello, The Kentuckian and Box will have on q Saturday will come from the ranks of the, as s yet, publicly untried horses. Four of these will be dangerous, if their recent private trials are worth anything. They are Batten, Kinley Mack, Jean Beraud and Admiration. "Battens chances look the poorest just now. Not that the colt lacks class or that his weight is too great. The difficulty is that Batten will not have been east a full week when the Brooklyn Handicap is run and will not have had time to recover from the ill effects incident to his long trip on the cars or to become accustomed to the change of climate and water. "Kinley Mack, Admiration and Jean Beraud wintered at Louisville, but they came east before the Morris Park meeting began and aro thoroughly acclimated. They have been work ing at Sheepshead Bay under the direction of the veteran Mississippi turfman, Peter Wim-mcr, and have done wonders. "Jean Beraud must be at his best or William C. Whitney would not be so anxious to match him with Ethelbert. The Brooklyn Handicap, however, will be a fair test of the relative merits of Ethelbert and Jean Beraud as race horses, and perhaps one side or the other will not want a match after the Brooklyn is over.
