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GOSSIP OF THE TURF TURFAs As the Metropolitan Handicap is run early in the year and as the older horses are not often ready the makeup of the field for this event is almost always a puzzle until the horses are on their way to the post Last year Clarence H Mackay carried away the prize with Banastar who was practically ignored by the public and was allowed to win with long odds about him Banastar simply displayed his real form because he had been made fit earlier than the other horses of the aged division which he was asked to beat It is a certainty therefore that if Banastar starts in this years Metropolitan ho will not be overlooked even though ho was a crip ¬ ple after tho running of the Brooklyn in which ho was cut down From indications all of the trainers will make an earlier start than usual this year bo ginning at Benuings and proceeding to Aqueduct where many of tho most noted candidates for tho Metropolitan are expected to make their prepara ¬ tions This will serve to make the Aqueduct meet ¬ ing of more than ordinary interest though the pro ¬ gram of events of the Queens County Jockey Club will be of marked attractiveness attractivenessThe The Metropolitan will be the richest handicap of the big eastern events of this kind for the reason that the Westchester Racing Association has in ¬ creased its value to a 7500 added money race a 1500 advance over its worth a year ago This is in line with Westchesters policy for the coming sea ¬ son and it was evidently prompted by the great popularity of Morris Park last season when larger crowds than ever before attended tho spring and fall meetings Tho Metropolitan with fifteen starters will not 8750 to the winner It is also cheaper for owners than the other events in that its nomination fee is 100 instead of 200 for both the Brooklyn and Suburban while the forfeit is 50 instead of 100 After tho announcement of the weights an owner who does not believe that his allotment is fair can withdraw his horse for the small sum of 10 The race therefore can be said to have been drawn on the most liberal lines and deserves the support of both horsemen and public New York Sun On his return to Cincinnati after the annual meeting of the Western Jockey Club at Chicago Judge George G Perkins said It is the intention of the Latonia Jockey Club to make its spring meeting for 1902 such that it will stand second only to Washington Park in western turf history for the year The club has been assured of substantial support by the best citizens of the community in its efforts to rejuvenate the sport and Latonia will again be the Latonia of the days when the countrys fairest daughters and sturdiest sons flocked to tho Kentucky racing ground to taste the delights of battle done by equine monarchs monarchsThe The passing of each winter day marks the shap ¬ ing of a fulfilment of this prediction or if yon please to so call it promise Primarily to the suc ¬ cor of the club soiled by the hand of greed and stained by practices which the true sportsman scorns came Mayor Fleischmann and the business men of Cincinnati and assured by this evidence of substantial ability the foremost in the ranks of the thoroughbred owners and breeders in the southern and western country reenforced by some of the leading lights of the eastern turf have given their aid and approval by entering their best and most promising racers for the prizes which when com ¬ pared with the star attractions at Saratoga Sheeps head Bay Brighton Beach Morris Park and Wash ¬ ington Park seem modest indeed But from a sentimental view point and there is a growing tendency to the sentimental in the sport they stand for as much as events which figure ten times their value in dollars The statistics of the winter meeting of the Cres ¬ cent City Jockey Club are beginning to assume huge proportions both in tho amount distributed and the sums earned by some of the stables In all 16198550 has been won This is divided among 190 owners of whom 122 have received 250 or more The following is a list of owners that have won 3000 or more moreOwners Owners Amount James AmountJames Arthur Co 723500 A 723500A Simons Co 598700 FizerCo 598700FizerCo 596100 G 596100G C Bennett Co 549200 Thomas 549200Thomas Carey 459500 R 459500R E WatkinsCo 408300 John 408300John CallCo 380000 A 380000A H D H Morris 318150 M 318150M Foster 311500 ETrotterCo 311500ETrotterCo 309000 309000Among Among the jockeys Coburn is still at the head but as he has gone to Memphis and will not bo seen in tho saddle again until the Derby is run his account is as good as closed It is not likely that any of the other boys will equal his record Lyne and T Dean are tied for second place tho latter having made big gains during tho week while the former was neither very busy nor brilliant Coburu has won fiftytwo races while Lyno and Dean have each won twentysix Bartley leads the steeple ¬ chase jockeys with five wins to his credit Gold Ornament the winner of the Now St Charles Hotel Stakes at New Orleans the first twoyearold stakes of the year at half a mile is tho first to face the flag of the get of the mighty Ornament winner of tho Latonia Oakley and St Louis Dorbys and tho Brooklyn Handicap Tho filly not only won at sensationally long odds but broke tho track record for twoyearolds her time being 481 seconds No twoyearold in America ever ran as fast for half a mile as early in the season as February Harry Beck who beat McChesney as a twoyear old has developed a ringbone and will bo thrown out of training Harry Beck was a good winner last year and much was expected of him this season He is owned by Circuit Clerk James C Rogers of Lexington Ky
