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"TEXAS" SMITH RULED OF. Somewhat of a sensation was created yesterday at Hawthorne when it was announced that ,-Texa?" J. H. Smith had been ruled off the turf by the Washington Park stewards. Smith has been in the racing business a number of years. He has never owned any great race horse but has always had a number of selling platers in training and last winter at New Orleans headed the list of winning owners. Mr. Smith has stated himself on numerous occasions that he was in the horse business simply as a trader and never relied much on what his horses won in purses for his existence. Smith has always been a hard man for other owners to get along with in selling races, and has been dubbed "the selling race terror." It mattered naught to whom a horse belonged, if Smith thought he was in too cheap he would not let an owner get away with a purse with a ,*00 or 52.000 horse entered to be Bold for s-,00. Furthermore, if Smith happened to start one of his horses in a race and catch some other owner out of line he wasted no time in claiming the horse that he thought was entered too cheap, and in this way has on several different occasions got hold of a good horse. As a trader Mr. Smith used keen judgment, as ! can be seen by the following two examples : He I bought Tappan at New Orleans two years ago for 00, won something like ,700 in purses ! with him, and then 6old him to John F. Schorr for ,100. buying him back again from Schorr " the following day for ,000. For something like I 3700 he got Benneville out of a selling race at t Cincinnati, won over X00 in stakes and purses I with him. then sold him to James Lamley for r .000. and immediately after Lamley got hold 1 of the horse he broke down and has never t started since. These are only two instances of I his shrewdness as a horse trader. Here is how the Washington Park stewards I lauded the wily Texan: J. Carroll started 1 Catastrophe in a selling race at Washington 3 Park July 6 and entered the horse to be sold 1 for 00. In th«- same race Smith had Red 1 Pirate, and as Catastrophe did not win, Smith, after the race, headed for the secretarys office 3 to put in a claim for Catastrophe, being satisfied . to pay ,200 for him. On his way to the » office, so rumor ha.- it, he met Carroll and the 9 latter remarked, "going in to claim my horse. I [ suppose." Smith answered in the aflirmative 3 and Carroll, not wanting to let his horse go , for ,2C0. asked Smith how much he would | take to let the matter drop. Smith agreed on j .slOO, so it is said, and Carroll kept his horse. . The latter, however, took advantage of Rule » 155, American Racing Rules, which reads: ■ "Any person offering, or entering into an agreement, . to bid or not to bid or attempt to prevent t, another person from bidding on the winner of f a selling race, or claiming any horse in such i race, or attempt by intimidation to prevent anyone from running a horse in any race for r which it is entered, or demand any portion of f the surplub from theowners of the horses which i are entitled to it, or any owners running horses 5 iu a selling race who may make an agreement I for the protection of each others hor-es in contravention - of these rules. -hall be ruled off ." As shrewd as Smith has always been iu his I dealings it seems that he ghould know the g axivi rule by heart. Had he claimed Catas i tophe and sold him right back to Mr. Carroll 1 f r an advance of 00 it would have been j s; rirtly a busine-:- deal and no trouble would i have come from it. It was rumored that F. W. Doss endorsed Mr-Carrolls - charge against Smith to the Washington Park steward:-. Yesterdays races were run over a track fet - ! I ! " I t I r 1 t I I 1 3 1 1 3 . » 9 I [ 3 , | j . » ■ . t, f i r f i 5 I - I g i 1 j i - - lock deep in slushy mud. and as is always the case under such conditions, the sport was devoid of interest, all the winners having much to spare at the finish. There was one mild outburst of enthusiasm after the fourth race which the popular jockey Burns won with ease on Dangerline. It was a five furlong selling race for two-year-olds and ten ordinary youngsters lined up to the barrier. Starter Holtman got them away at the first break to a good start with Invictus in front. Saruer second and Dangerline third. Sarner is a good-looking chestnut colt by Kingston— Pa -k : Ridge, belonging to Barney Schreiber and it did not take him long to go to the front and open up a gap of a length and a half, an advantage he maintained until the stretch was reached where Dangerline went to the head of affairs, winning off by himself. Sarner hung a trifle in the last fifty yards and Hurry, coming with a rush, beat him by a neck for second place. Mr. Holtman made an unfortunate start in the first race, sending nine of the ten starters away like a flock of wild geese. After this. however, Holtman did excellent work, having no delays at the post and getting the fields away well bunched. Peaches, with Rose up. was the fortunate one to get off in front in the first event, and she won all the way by a half dozen lengths. The second race saw Heigh Ho a 7 to 10 shot going to the post, but the Himyar— Janet mare did not seem to hive her usual amount of speed and finished third to Abe Furst and Lucille Bramble. It was the universal opinion before the race that Abe Furst could not run in the mud, but he seemed to fairly revel in it, and at the end was easing up four lengths in the lead. Bangle had little or no trouble in disposing : of Our Nellie and three other ordinary horses i in the nine-furlong condition race. This was , quite a pretty race to look at for about a mile, , but after that Bangle had everything his own i way. Our Nellie and Bangle broke together ■ and raced like a team many lengths in front of I the other three plodders for about a mile, then i Our Nellie gave it up and Bangle came home by himself. He was a stanch favorite and went to the post at 7 to 10. "Lucky" Baldwins Norford, by Emperor of I Norfolk— Miss Ford, built on the same lines as i his sire, won the fifth race, which was at a mile i and a sixteenth, most impressively. He was i ridden by the old timer, Patsy McDermott, , and leading from end to end won pulled to a i walk four lengths in front of Limerick, who was made favorite principally because Buru rode him. Enghurst, the only other starter. i was beaten off all the way. There was a lot of good selling platers in the 1 sixth race and it was always about M to 1 and I take your pick against any of them. Lady Med-t dlesome. with T. Knight up, proved to be the best, and after Prestar had been used up by pacemaking she came on and won hard held by a neck. Trinity Bell was late in arriving for the first rate, and alter betting had been in progress sometime this filly wa.- scratched *by order of the judges and the firm of J. Welch A; Co. was fined 0 for being late. On account of Trinity Bell being late and withdrawn the starting time of the first race was set back from 2:15 to 2:35. In the meantime all bets were declared off by the managers of the ring and a new book was made with Trinity Bell out. The "Kusey Club. consisting of W. M. Wal- lace, president. J. M. Arthur, secretary, twelve horses, four dogs and John May berry, shipped to Saratoga yesterday by express over the llli- nois Central in car No. 23.
