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JACK POINT. The sensational equine contest brought about by the running of the Brighton Handicap looks like becoming an inexhaustible topic among horsemen. A noticeable feature in the aftermath of the great race is the absence of "ifs" and "buts" among trainers and owners. The honor achieved by Jack Point is undimmed by the slightest reflection that the race was not truly run or that the best horse at the weight on that particular day did not win. The phenomenal pace maintained from tiagfall left no room for doubt as to the supreme merit of a horse that could keep within hail of the flying leaders and then go through and win so decisively as the plucky four-year-old son of Sir Dixon— Merry Maiden. A. L. Aste is lucky in owning such a genuine thoroughbred, and doubly lucky in possessing encugh astuteness and nerve to realize when he has a "good thing" and profit by the knowledge. In addition to the slO.OOO represented by his share of the stake on Saturday, he hit the ring heavily, and those who did not follow the lead are now wondering bow they ever came to play anything else. Before the race the same persons were making sarcastic remarks when the "bookies" posted such short odds as 8 to 1 and found so many takers that they rubbed out the eight and substituted six. A- matters turned out the owner of Jack Point and the layers knew more than the regular.-, who are supposed to have form at their finger tips. In their craze to get aboard of Eth-elbert. Admiration. Kinley Mack or Imp. they passed over the fact that Jack Point, with 120 pounds up. had won a one mile and a half race as recently as July 9. at Sheep-head Bay. in exceptional time from MacLeod of Dare and Decanter. They had also apparently forgotten that on June 28, also at Sheepsliead Ba . the son of Sir Dixon, with 104 pounds up. had won a race of one mile ami a sixteenth from Montanic and Maximo Gomez. True, his previous tatm was nothing to boast of. as he had run unplaced to Imp aud Kinley Mack in the Parkway Handicap at Gravesond. with a concession of thirty-one pounds from the mare. His previous performance was also discour- I aging, as in his debut for the season at Graves-end on May 28 he ran last in the handicap won 1 by Lothario. These early defeats, however, i were more than counterbalanced by his steadily I improving form at Sheepsliead Bay, where his dickey leg seemed to cease bothering him. . Then he trained on with the result that he is . now a chapter in turf history, and if his underpinning holds good during the campaign he will probably be heard of again. It was a singidar coincidence that The Kentuckian. another horse with doubtful props, should have finished second to Jack Point on Saturday while all the hothouse cracks were struggling in the ruck. In ordinary circumstances a beaten horse loses prestige, but this does not seem to apply in the case of the phenomenal old mare Imp, who, if possible, is a greater idol than ever. Her performance on Saturday, although unsuccessful, raises her. in the opinion of veteran horsemen, to an even higher pinnacle than when she broke her way through worlds records in her memorable oue mile and three-quarter romp at Sheepsliead Bay on June 30. She shouldered her crushing impost of 129 pounds on Saturday like a champion and fought it out gamely to the end with the light-weighted pair in front of her. while the two stars supposed to hold her safe. Ethelbert and Kinley Mack, were rolling along in the rear bunch like rudderless .-hips in a cross sea. "What happened to Ethelbert." is a question which was answered in forty different ways, but the generally accepted explanation is that the horse had been indulged and petted too much. Kinley Mack s collapse is accounted for by the pace aud there is much sympathy expressed for his trainer, who had placed him successfully in the Brooklyn and Suburban, only to see him last but one on Saturday. — N. V.Sun.
