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MCHESNEY. Within a few days past Charley Hughes has been credited -with saying that Hermis can easily take McChesney into camp. He may be right, but precious few people out west think the same way. Having trained Hermis he is naturally prepossessed in his favor. Sam Hildreth, than whom there is no more skillful trainer in America, thinks differently. In talking with a prominent eastern writer concerning the two horses, a while back he said: "If I had McChesney in my barn I would match him to run Hermis at equal weights for 20,000 a side and Id get the money. Ive never seen Hermis, but I know his races. He looks to me like a good horse at the bad time in a bad year. He wasnt much until after the best of them had gone lame or stale. He didnt beat the pick of the east any time last year. They talk about how he handled Advance. Guard. Ive had half a dozen overnight horses that could beat Advance Guard a mile and an eighth,- and not have to try hard. We didnt think Advance Guard was so much of a horse when he was racing in the west. We called him just a useful, honest, everyday sort that would always run his race and be in or nigh the money. If Advance Guard is a line on Hermis, McChesney could lose Mr. Bells horse at a mile and a quarter. "Dont let that race when Old Hutch ran McChesney to a head here put you off. Old Hutch is not in McChesneys class. In that race McChesney did not run to within twenty pounds of himself. Old Hutch is no more than a good selling plater. The idea that he can beat McChesney with McChesney anywhere nigh himself is foolish. "Some other races which McChesney has run lately have not looked high class. It is because he is not being trained right. I am not criticising Durnells training methods, but he hasnt got onto McChesney yet. The horse needs speed work. He is game enough and has stamina enough to go any route, but he needs work that will keep his speed in hand. Hell get sluggish on long, slow work. "Durnell has never had the horse at his best since I sold him. When Boots gets the proper line on him and finds out that brushing is what he needs, McChesney will show his best form. The difference in training methods has been the cause of some of the comparatively bad races which McChesney has run. He has won simply on his class. "Im not talking foolish when I tell you that McChesney is the best horse I ever trained. I can show you. When he was a two-year-old I worked him half a mile in Hi seconds with 122 pounds on him. Then when he was a three-year-old and I was -getting him ready for the American Derby he showed me better work than I ever had a horse do. I gave him a mile and a quarter at Harlem one day with Winkfield up that made me think I had the Derby in my pocket. "The track was heavy and the races were being run in 1:4G for the mile. Winkfield and a big saddle weighed a hundred and twenty-five pounds. They told me that a mile and a quarter in 2:16 would be good work. I told Winkfield to let him rate along at his own clip. The horse took a nice hold on the bit and traveled the route in 2:08, and at the finish was just breezing along like he was ready to go a mile further. That was the best work any horse ever showed me. McChesney will always run up to his work or better, and I had a right to think I had the Derby winner. "You know how he fell in a race before the Derby came off, and I couldnt get him ready for weeks. That fall, Ill always think, cost me the big Chicago race. Wyeth? Why, Wyeth had no more chance to beat this horse at a mile and a half than I have traveling afoot. Tou know McChesney has got the record for six and a half furlongs, and most folks think he is a sprinter. He isnt a sprinter, though I can beat sprinters with him. "Hes a horse that you can train to do anything. I can get him to a quarter race or I can fit him for a cup distance just as easily. All he needs is to be worked for speed. Some of these sprinters can go off and run away from him in the first quarter, but he can climb right over them coming home from the half. . Hes the easiest horse in the world to manage in a race. You can ride him -with .yourLlittle-finger on fcthof knot: Hedoesnt pull a pound and hell run for the lightest boy. "And thats another reason why I think in a match he would beat Hermis. They tell me Hermis is a free horse and wants to go out racing. They have to swing him to keep him back the first part of it. All youd have to do with him would be to put McChesney up alongside him and keep cluckin all the way. McChesney wouldnt worry a bit, but hed have Hermis choked before theyd gone three-quarters. But he can beat Hermis anyhow. Im not saying Hermis is not a good one; he may be better than I think, but hed have to be a lot better to beat this one. "Im judging this one by the others Ive trained, and hes the best one on the long list. That half in 47J seconds, that six and a half furlong record, that work in 2:08 and his races make me think so. Hes a sprinter with sprinters, and hes a cup horse among that kind. That makes a real race horse for me. They think around here that LEtrenne is a fast thing at six furlongs. McChesney can beat her weight for age at that route. And he can beat Hermis at a mile and a quarter. "Why did I sell him? To tell you the truth I didnt think he would ever be McChesney again after that fall in Chicago when he broke a fence post with his head. When he was rounding to and it was a guess whether I had a horse or not, I got a good offer for him and I let him go. Ive been sorry ever since. Thats one of the mistakes I made." The same writer says of McChesney as he now appears: "Folks naturally want to know something of the appearance of this western candidate for championship honors. Well, he is a big horse all over. To look at him one would say quickly that he was about 15.2J. As a matter of fact he is just a shade under 16 hands. His bulk gives you the impression of low stature. He is as round as a hickory back-log and as tough as a withe. His barrel is big, but his quarters are so heavily muscled that standing behind him you cannot see his ribs for the spread over the hips. His arms are marvelously developed. He is all over a good looking horse and balanced like a pair of jewelers scales. He is quick on his feet, a long strider, but a ready one at recovering, can run in any kind of going, does well in the stable, never worries, and runs his races up to or a shade "Possibly his one fault is that he is not a good horse in a big field. In nearly every race in which he has met a field of size he has met with interference. Part of that came from the boys on the other horses who were always watching for him and shutting him off when he tried to make one of his electric rushes. Then when he started to make his run he got up so much speed that the boy on him could not steer him clear or ease him up in time to keep him out of pockets."
