view raw text
IRISH LAD AND THE PICKET. i Two sensations in the American Derby J situation were developed yesterday. One was the report that Irish Lad would not come , west, but would be started in the Suburban . tomorrow. The other was an extraordinary trial over the Derby distance by Middleton ■and Jungbluths bay colt, The Picket. If there is any foundation for the story that the "Westbury stables candidate will •not be seen at "Washington Park, Saturday, it is unlikely that he will go to the post in the Suburban. In the paddock at Gravesend, last week, Harry Payne Whitney and Herman B. Duryea, owners of the winner of the Brooklyn Handicap, and J. W. Rogers, his trainer, all declared that starting him in the Suburban would not even be considered. They pointed to the fact that he would have to carry the limit for three-year-olds, 115 pounds, and give considerable weight to the ■older horses which had performed well, or were apparently getting good _and said_ he "was too valuable to be. abused in that manner. Unless those gentlemen have radically changed opinions Irish Lads name will not appear in the list of the Suburban field. That he is to be a Suburban starter because Goldsmiths recent work has failed to justify expectations, is another story that is transparently absurd. "While Rogers trains both Goldsmith and Irish Lad, William C. Whitney owns the four-year-old and exercises no control over the three-year-old, owned by his son and Herman B. Duryea, the latter an individual who has positive opinions and is not easily influenced. Last summer, at Sheepshead Bay, when August Belmont, disappointed and excited by the defeat of Mizzen by Irish Lad, proposed a sweepstakes of ,000 each, in which the two colts should meet again, John E. Madden, who was then training Irish Lad, said: "Go ahead and make It." Harry Payne Whitney said: "Ill do it," Herman B. Duryea said "No," and "No" it was. If Irish Lad runs in the Suburban it will be because Rogers believes him capable of winning that event. It is almost superfluous to add that the young turfmen who own the colt have implicit confidence in Rogers judgment. If the colt runs in the American Derby it -will be because Harry Payne Whitney wished to make an effort to win the chief event of the western turf and influenced his partner to become similarly disposed. When The Picket finished third in the Clark Stakes, at Harlem, Saturday, he created a favorable impression, but there was nothing in that performance to suggest that three days later he would work the most remarkable trial, at a mile and a half, ever made by an American Derby candidate. At Harlem yesterday morning he traveled the •distance in 2:33i, according to the watch of his trainer, Carroll Reid, while other timers -caught him faster, some at 2:32g. The Harlem track was in almost perfect order yesterday and any Derby candidate worthy of consideration would have been expected to show fast work. Nevertheless The Pickets trial was simply astounding. It was so fast that experienced timers were inclined to doubt their watches and suppress announcements. Comparisons, however, confirmed the timing and established the fact •of an amazing exhibition of speed and stam-ina. The fractions, as taken by an expert for Daily Racing Form, were 121. 24, 49|, 1:02, l:14g, 1:28, 1:401, l:53g, 2:06g, 2:19i, 2:32j. The is two-fifths of a second faster than the jtotal i J , . trainer caught the colt and as much slower than some of the timers made it. It was not late in the forenoon before money began to be placed on the son of Falsetto— Voltario. The odds against him were cut before noon, from 20 to 15, and in the afternoon they were reduced to 12. One man who timed the trial and afterward backed the colt, remarked: "If The Picket is not a morning glory he will be a factor in that race, Saturday, from start to finish." Flocarline was the only other candidate to go the full journey. She did it, at Washington Park, after the rain, on a slippery track, and finished tired, in 2:47. Just before leaving the east she ran some good races and worked so well that shrewd eastern turfmen predicted, that she would run a good race in the American Derby. Early, M. H. TIchenor and Co.s other candidate, was given a mile gallop, at Hawthorne, in 1:55. "Rome" Respess galloped his three candidates once around the Harlem track yesterday morning, - Dick. -Whites, did theircnit in 1:452, Bernays in 1:47 and Collonade in 1:461. C. B. Mahones Banter will not go to the post in the Derby. He burst a foot during a trial at Hawthorne yesterday morning and is not likely to race for a long time. He had gone a mile and a quarter in 2:0S| before the mishap occurred and his owner was indulging in the belief that his colors would be prominent in the big event, when he was shocked by observing that the gelding was in trouble. M. J. Daly was at Harlem yesterday evening awaiting the arrival of Claude, due to arrive from St. Louis at 4 p.m. When asked if the winner of three Derbys would start today at Harlem, he replied: "I wish it had rained a little more." He says Claudes weight in the American Derby will be 127 pounds instead of 129, as published. The California Derby was worth ,590 and Claude has therefore not won three three-year-old stakes of the value of ,000 each. Fore and Aft and the entire stable of William Gerst were shipped from Detroit last night and will be at Washington Park this morning. According to Enoch Wishard, there is nothing in the story that the services of Bullman had been sought to ride one of John A. Drakes Derby candidates. T. J. Gallagher.
