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MATT BYRNES RETURNS. Matt Byrnes, the American trainer, who left for Austria last January to handle the thoroughbreds of M. Eugene Boross, has returned home. He expressed himself as well ; pleased with his experience abroad, but has no intention at present of repeating the experiment, says Morning Telegraph of Thursday. Byrnes found Austria a great country for racing. It has many really good thoroughbreds. Byrnes also found that the people of ! Austria take very kindly to Americans and j their racing methods. He says that the trainers and jockeys who go there succeed, i and do better each ensuing year. "But," he added, "a great drawback is j the language. Not only is the Austrian j tongue difficult of itself, but the country is made up of many provinces, in each of which j the language and dialect is different." j Byrnes says he had great difficulty in learning the fine points in the conditions of the races. In addition, Byrnes says two of . the three-year-old fillies he had, of which much was expected, went wrong and gave him much trouble. Even with these drawbacks he had quite a successful season. M. Boross. who engaged Byrnes, is a Hungarian living on his estate at Stz. Lor-enz, in the suburbs of Budapest. Mr. Boross married an American woman about a year ago, and while on a visit to this country became greatly interested in American methods in the training and handling of horses. Byrnes superintended the laying out and building of an American track, a mile in circumference, on the training ground of M. Boross. The racetracks of Austria are sodded, although circular in course, except in races of six furlongs, which are generally run straightaway. Byrnes also turned a mammoth ox stable into an approved American barn, having twenty-four stalls for the thoroughbreds and all the latest appliances known in this country. Byrnes returns hale and hearty. He has put on some flesh. He traveled all over the country, attending all the meetings in the Austrian empire. He says the people there bet well, but that the laying of wagers does not begin until horses go to the post. There is always a delay at the post of at least half an hour while betting is going on. He considers this a bad feature. With Byrnes on the Kaiser Wilhelm came Charles Milburn, the jockey he took over with him. Milburn and Fred Cowman did all his riding in Austria, and achieved good results. Fred Taral, who headed the list of winning jockeys, is due to arrive here on the Hamburg Line steamship today or tomorrow. Of all the American jockeys riding in Austria Byrnes thought the record of Harry Lewis was most remarkable. He added, though, that Fred Taral never rode in better form in his life than last summer. "But the way Lewis beat the starts, and practically won his races at the very beginning, was something remarkable," added the veteran trainer. "By sheer excellence and alertness he outshone the other boys in getting away from the post."
