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GOSSIP OF THE TURF. The Annual Champion Stakes on Saturday proved beyond peradventure that the public wants more long-distance races in which horses of the all-aged division may meet. The public also wishes to see the race run from start to finish. The sprints down the Futurity course at Sheepshead Bay ana the Eclipse course at Morris Park may be excellent tests of the merits of the horse, but they are of no interest to race-goers for the reason that nothing of the races can be seen until the horses are within an eighth of a mile of the grandstand. In the longdistance events such as the Annual Champion, at two miles and a quarter, on the other hand, the spectators can see the progress of the race at all stages, the shifting of positions, the work of the jockeys and in fact every incident worthy of notice. This fact was clearly ehown by the enthusiasm of the crowd on Saturday, for everybody was on tiptoe from the moment that the barrier was raised until Major Daingerfleld flashed past the judges, winner by a nose. , Advocates of more long-distance races say that when the racing authorities curtail the two-year-old campaign and thereby help to save the rapidly dwindling three, four and aged classes from total obliteration, the sport will be strengthened in a branch that has always enjoyed popular support. They point to the fast that the severe tests that two-year-olds undergo serve to break them down or take away their stamina before they have really reached their full growth. Some turfmen say the 1 Futurity ought to be the first two-year-old race of r the year, while others say that there should be no , rich two-year-old stakes at all, but that the small L fortunes now hung up by the racing associations i for the youngsters should be offered to the three-year-olds instead. At any rate, the dearth of good 1 three and four-year-olds seems to vividly illustrate 3 the argument against the overworking of two-year-olds which has grown in a most alarming manner. "One of the best features of the meeting has been , the excellent work of Mars Cassidy with the flag, of which it can be said truthfully and deservedly j that there has been no better at any track in the 5 country. There have been no tedious delays at the post. As a rule the horses have been sent away in l splendid style. True, there have been some poor r CONTINUED ON SECOND PAGE. GOSSIP OF THE TURF. Continued from First Page. . starts, but they were few and far between. Most of them were caused by bad acting horses, by riders that were not as alert as they should be or by some i that were monkeying for a shade the best of the sendoff." says a letter from Buffalo to Daily America. "Mr. Cassidy has a device attached to his barrier which is an improvement, and one that could be adopted by other starters with similar excellent results to thoee that he has obtained. When he turns on the current to release the barrier, an eight-inch gong rings -out sharp and clear as the webbing ascends. That serves to warn both boys and horses that it is a start. The boys learn readily that all they have to do is to keep their mounts ; : 1 1 straight, listen for the sound of the gong and be off with its first tinkle. The horses soon come to know what the sound meanB and act accordingly. "Mr. Cassidy has a theory in that connection which seems sound and plausible. He believes that with the universal use of the barrier without the recall flag and the device he is using, or a similar one, the day of the bad actor at the post will be a thing of the past. All the bad actors of former years were made as two-year-olds by reason of long delays at the post and the jockeying of their riders to get the best of the start. Very few of the present two-year-olds are bad actors, the worst behaving horses being those that were racing before the no-recall system came into vogue. It seems reasonable, therefore, that in the course of a few years there will be no such thing as a bad actor to mar a start." Colonel James E. Pepper has sold a half interest fn his racing stable to Dr. J. Grant Lyman for 0,000. The deal includes eighteen horses in training and eight very promising yearlings. Among the horses in training are King Pepper, Whiskey King, John Barleycorn, Par Excellence, Lord Pepper land other good winners on the metropolitan tracks this season.
