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IMP. The black mare, Imp, has intrenched herself still stronger in the hearts of the racing public the present season, although the number of times she has been first past the post has not been many. She has only won four times this year, but her races have been so remarkable that the consensus of opinion among the horsemen is that the Wragner mare never had an equal on the turf. Imp started to race in April at Bennings. and she has had a race at intervals of a week or two throughout the season, from that time to the close of the Sheepshead Bay meeting. She has won four races, was second three times, third five times and unplaced twice. She has never carried less than 124 pounds but once, when Bbe took up 113 pounds and galloped home in the Advance Stakes. That was the only soft spot the black mare has dropped into in a long time. That Imp did not start out winning from the first of the season is not at all surprising. She was carrying a ton of weight in every race, and besides, her past record has shown that she is not at her best until later in the season. It is probable that she is just now in better racing fettle after all her hard races than at any time during the season. Imps race in the Brooklyn Handicap over a track she did not like showed that she was ready and getting to her best form. In this race she was interfered with several times, and Clawson made two or three runs with her. At the head of the stretch she was neck and neck with the leaders, when they closed in and threw her off her stride, causing Clawson to pull up. For a long striding mare like Imp to be thrown off her stride means practically killing her chances for the race. Imp amply redeemed herself the next time out. winning at Gravesend with 124 pounds up. Turfmen will no doubt agree that her best race this season was on June 20, at Sheepshead Bay, a mile and three-sixteenths, with 131 pounds up. in 2 :00 ,... There have been queens of the turf in the past, Firenzi. Miss Woodford and others, have stirred the hearts of race-goers and left records of glory behind them, but it is not too much to say that Imps showing outshines them all. Never has there been a mare in the history of the American turf of whom so much was asked year in and year out, and who has so many splendid performances to her credit, as the true running daughter of Wagner— Fondling. Her great flight of speed, her endurance and especially her w illingness to race and always do the best .she can. no matter how she is handicapped, has made her an idol among all lovers of the thoroughbred. With from 115 to 120 pounds to carry Imp may be called well nigh invincible at any distance.— Morning Telegraph.
