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GOSSIP OF THE TURF. Undoubtedly two very good fillies contested the finish of the Nursery Stakes at Louisville Saturday. After the race, according to the Courier Journal, Mr. Thomas W. Moore, the trainer of White Plume, and brother of her owner, Charles W. Moore, was both pleased and disappointed by the result "White Plume is the best two-year-old filly in America," he said after the race. "She was giving lumps of weight to everything in the race. Advantage was in receipt of ten pounds and Sanctum was conceded six by the scale and three in actual weight, yet White Plume got off last, ran around her field, was carried wide into the stretch, and with all this tough racing luck was beaten but a short half length and would have been first had the race been a short distance longer. I have no criticism to make of Reiffs ride. He was unfortunate in not getting away, but after he got the filly straightened out in the stretch he rode a magnificent finish. White Plume is a great filly and can beat anything of her sex and age in this country. Unless she has more bad luck she will make everything in her class chase her under the wire." Mr. McDowells face was wreathed in smiles as he received the congratulations of his friends. "It is almost equal to winning the Derby," he said. "Advantage is a game filly and she ran a remarkable race this afternoon. Her mouth is a bit sore and she was hard to keep straight, which accounts for swinging wide into the stretch. She will be mighty hard to beat from this on, and I dont think she will bring any discredit on the stake which she won. My friend, Mr. Moore, thinks his filly was the better, but as the stable boys say, the judges hung our number up, and that is what counts. She is a high class race filly and will improve even over this afternoons performance." Speaking of arrivals at Latonia, the Commercial Tribune of Sunday said: "The big string of Rome Respess arrived at the track late yesterday afternoon, the trip from Woodlawn taking over six hours. For all that the horses arrived in good shape, though all of them are on the big side and need hard work to get in racing trim. There was a great deal of curiosity on the part of the stable help at the track to see the great Dick Welles. Dick is a splendid specimen of thoroughbred and looks big enough to pull a dray. All the other horses at the track are doing well and there is no sickness of any kind around." The noted stallion Exile, winner of the Brooklyn Handicap in 18S9, went mad last Tuesday night at the stock farm of his owner, Elliott C. Cowdin, at Mount Kisco, and was shot to death. He tried to break out of his stall in the morning, and when trainer Brennan attempted to soothe the horse he became so frenzied that Brennan and his stablemen proceeded to remove the other animals from the barn. Exile finally got free and rushed wildly at Brennan and an assistant. They started for a fence, but, as the horse was biting and snapping at them, they climbed up a tree for safety. Exile then bit the bark off the tree, threw his weight against it, and even bit himself. When it was seen that his case was hopeless, Mr. Cowdin reluctantly gave orders to have him shot, and a stable hand sent a bullet into his brain. Exiles tirumph in the Brooklyn Handicap was one of the events in turf history that will be handed down for generations to come. He was the property of William Lakeland, and though a cripple, was patched up especially for that race. He went to the post with odds of 10 to 1 about him, and, rushing away from his field, he won easily, enabling Lakeland, David Gideon and a few others who knew of his fit condition, to clean up thousands of dollars on his victory. Not long after that Exile went wrong, and Lakeland sold him to Charles Reed, of Fair-view stud, for 5,000. Last year, when Mr. Reeds stallions were sold at auction, Exile was knocked down to Mr. Cowdin for a paltry 00. The horse always was noted for his temper, and while in Kentucky it is said that he killed two men. In addition to capturing the Brooklyn Handicap, Exile took the Brooklyn Cup and Mayflower Handicap, Twin City Handicap, and the Wood-lawn Handicap, beating such -well known horses as Proctor Knott, Elkwood, Prince Royal and Terra Cotta.— New York Sun.
