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EASTERN TURF TALK. Concerning affairs of current interest to turfmen and patrons of racing in the eastern field the New York Sun of Monday says: "Turfmen are agreed that the coming season will be the greatest in the history of American thoroughbred racing. The success of the meeting at Bennings is already assured, yet that is only an appetizer preparatory to the sport on the metropolitan circuit. That the turf authorities in the east intend to deal severely with those who transgress is evident from the action of the stewards at Bennings. who only last week suspended jockey Miles and referred his case to the Jockey Club. The boys offense was a glaring ride on Father Bill Dalys Carroll D., in conjunction with which it is common talk that a certain well-known bookmaker, whose sheets were examined by the stewards, won heavily on the colts defeat. While Miles is likely to be practically ruled off there is no way in which to discipline the layer unless the Metropolitan Turf Association takes the matter in hand. Those who are conversant with the inside of this affair say the Metropolitan Turf Association should institute an investigation at once, and if the charges against the bookmaker under suspicion can be proved he should be expelled from membership without further delay. "It can be shown that one of the members of this association connived with a jockey to pull a favorite the consensus of opinion is that he should be banished for the sake of the reputation of the Metropolitan Turf Association and the good of the turf. At Bennings the story of the Carroll D. race is common property. The name of the bookmaker charged with complicity in the affair is on the wagging tongue of scandal. There appears to be a general demand for an investigation by the Governing Committee of the Mets before the matter goes too far. There was much talk, but little proof of scandalous practices on the eastern turf last year, but rather than have the talk con tinue the authorities intend to exert unusual vigilance during the campaign at hand. "With the real prosperity for racing forecasted at Washington, the opening of the Aqueduct meeting a week from today will probably be signalized by a great crowd and marked enthusiasm. In line with the general improvement of everything in the turf world, the Aqueduct meeting will be of a higher quality than in the past. The Queens County Jockey Club has mapped out an extensive and liberal program of stakes and weight events, and the largest owners have displayed an inclination to race some of their horses on the Jamaica Bay course. A visit to Aqueduct one day last week found it in first class condition. Supt. Joe Reilly has already opened the track for horsemen who wish to stable their racers or work them there, and by the middle of the week all of the stable room will have been taken. Arrangements have been made, however, by which owners can use the stables of the Metropolitan Jockey Clubs new track at Jamaica, which is a little more than a mile distant. In this way there will be no cause for complaint as to lack of stable room and when the racing at the Sullivan-McCarren track begins Aqueduct will return the compliment. "So far few good two-year-olds have been shown at Bennings. Race King, Petunia, Adel Trebla and a few others have shown fairly good class, but not what will be expected from the colts and fillies which will be introduced to the metropolitan public next month. Generally it is not until the spring meeting at Morris Park is well under way that the crack two-year-olds begin to appear. Turf sharps have been looking over the various youngsters at local tracks and at the stock farms in the south and west with the idea of securing a good line on those that may win championship laurels. So far, while a definite conclusion is impossible, the most promising two-year-olds seem to be in the stables of Messrs. Whitney, Madden, Paget, Belmont, Fleischmann, Schorr and Haggin. The most notable two-year-olds at local tracks are as follows: "John E. Madden Phaser, b. c, by Plaudit Branch; Fun Maker, b. c, by Himyar French Gray; Repeat, blk. c. by Sir Dixon Repeater; Jollier, b. c, by Plaudit Patrimony; Foghorn, ch. c, by Masetto Wild Flower. "W. C. Whitney Phantom, b. c, by Meddler Dissembler; Hypocrates, blk. c, by Lis-sak Honora; High Lass, b. c, by Meddler Forget; Bay colt, by Lissak Aunt Betsey. "Sidney Paget Water Pansy, br. c, by Watercress Pansy; Grenade, b. c, by St. Gatien Turmoil; Extralaw, b. c,by Bassetlaw Extract; Valour; ch. c, by Bassetlaw Victoria Cross; Hawk Fish, ch. c, by Goldfinch Margerique; Emergency, b. c, by Bath-ampton Crisis; Scholar, ch. c, by St. Gatien School Girl; Bay colt, by Knight of the Thistle Songstress. "August Belmont Jasper, b. c, by Hastings Priceless; Red Harry, ch. c, by Henry of Navarre Red Girl; Bay colt, by" Sir Dixon Merry Maiden. "Julius Fleischmann Chestnut colt, by St. Julien Coquette; Chestnut colt, by Pon-tiac Lizzie Cox; Brown colt, by Huron Maud Ward; a half brother to Hugh Penny. "The remarkable success of the three-year-old filly Mrs. Frank Foster at Bennings is the talk of the town. Since the first day of the meeting she has won six races, three of them on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week. All of her races have been sprints, and she has won in each instance by a safe margin. In twenty-four races at New Orleans during the past winter season she finished in the money twenty-one times. Mrs. Frank Foster was sold as a yearling for 5 and did not begin to race until last fall. She is owned by Frank Foster and is named for his wife. The filly is blind in one eye. She will be turned out after the Bennings meeting and will be raced later on at some of the Canadian tracks. "The Executive Committee of the Saratoga Racing Association, consisting of W. C. Whitney, Andrew Miller. H. K. Knapp, R. T. Wilson, Jr., Perry Belmont, T. Hitchcock, Jr., F. R. Hitchcock, J. G. Heckscher and J. H. Bradford, will leave here next Thursday morning in Mr. Whitneys private car for Saratoga, where they will decide on the exact location of the new stables and the construction of the new field stand. They will also make arrangements for other improvements. "G. H. Whitney has in his barn at Sheeps-head Bay a two-year-old filly, Lida Liebe, by Farandole Blessing, which is a full sister to Clarence H. Mackays famous Banastar, which was bred by Mr. Whitney. "E. E. Smathers, the owner of McChesney, has arrived in town. He ascribes Mc-Chesneys defeat in the Montgomery Handicap to overtraining, but he places no blame on Boots Durnell. It is rumored that if the Jockey Club will lift the ban, Sam Hildreth will train McChesney for the big stakes for which he is engaged at Saratoga. Mr. Smathers says that he will not bring the horse east before that time. "The metropolitan racecourses were frozen yesterday morning and consequently no work was done on the tracks before the sun had thawed out the frozen surface. Those that had the good fortune to be stabled at Gravesend and Brighton Beach made good use of the Ocean Parkway, which was in splendid condition. In the afternoon at the Gravesend course trainers Fred Berlew and E. L. Graves did some excellent work with many of their horses. In the Berlew string . Royal and Remorse had a good spin. In the Graves stable Monograph led a trio of two-year-olds a nice gallop. "Green B. Morris has arrived from the Pacific slope with his horses, and they all appear in good shape after their winter campaign there. Alexander Shields also 1 arrived at Gravesend yesterday from Bound Brook, N. J., with fifteen head. Old Advance Guard, looking better that ever, was the : hero of the hour. He was stripped so many 1 times for his many admirers that eventually young Will Shields was obliged to put the padlock on the Iron Horses stall. The reporter of The Sun asked owner Shields how many races the horse had run since he became his property. He said that he did not know, but that he could tell exactly how many times he had been in the money. " Since I owned him, said Shields, he has won forty-two races. He was second in thirty-two and was third in eighteen, making a total of ninety-two races. Of course sometimes he was unplaced, which makes a racing record possible never before achieved by a horse carrying such weight as Advance Guard has carried. He is today without a blemish and with legs as clean as when was foaled. "
