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STEEPLECHASERS RETURN TO ENGLAND. John M. P. and Desert Chief Now in Transit Former to Come Back Next Spring. New York, November 1. John M. P. and Desert Chief are on their way to England. They were shipped aboard one of Hie Atlantic Transport steamships three or four days ago. . They are- consigned by Grant Hugh Browne to Sir Charles Nugent, who handled John M. P. for J. S. Morrison, the African capitalist who owned him prior to the time he came to America as the property of Mr. Browne. John M.v P., it is understood, is to be prepared for the Grand National, which is to be run ovei the Aintree course next spring. Algernon Claxon, who trained John M. P. and Desert Chief all summer for Mr. Browne, says he knows nothing of. a reported dispute between Mr. Browne and the custom house authorities about the alleged under appraisement if John M. P. when he was brought into this country last spring. Claxon does not consider John M. P. a failure in this country. He does not believe the English horse had a fair chance. It is extremely difficult for a horse to accustom himself to the change of climate and4 water when transported from one continent to another In less than a years time, although it is easily possible that he may at the outset- run one or two good races; as John M. P. did at Sheepshead Bay in the early part of September. Claxon thinks John M. P. should have been kept here. By shipping to Great Britain at this time he thinks the horse will be upset , all the more. But Mr. Browne thought otherwise, and inasmuch as Claxon did not own the horse he did not feel competent to give advice to his employer. Mr. Browne is not only determined to start John M. P. in the Liverpool Grand National, but he has planned to bring him back to this country next summer and train him for the Champion of 1907. The-;bi.aro Groat-Beit-, ain has revived the old story that Mrl Browne never bought them outright, but merely leased them for the past seasons racing in America. Trainer Claxon maintains, however, that they are the property of Mr. Browne, to do with as he sees fit. No matter who may own them, the fact remains that they failed to accomplish the purposes for which they were brought to this country last spring namely, tj win the Whitney Memorial and Champion Steeplechases. Believers in the superior prowess of the foreign jumper over the American formerly contended that these races would prove easy for any good-class Britisher that came this way. Desert Chief came over here with the, reputation of being one of the fastest two-mile jumpers ever saddled on the other side of the Atlantic. Yet after schooling brilliantly for the Whitney Memorial, he not only failed to win but he failed to stay the two miles and a half course at Belmont Park. He fell after going a turn and a half of the field, and he fell so hard he all but broke his neck. He has not been worth much since that accident. He refuses some oi his jumps, and such as he goes over he takes in slovenly fashion. It is the unanimous verdict on this side of the Atlantic that Desert Chief will no-do. John M. P. failed as signally in the Champion as Desert Chief failed in the Whitney Memorial. He bad speed aplenty and he took his jumps cleanly enough as far as he went, but after traveling a mile and a half he refused. It is the opinion of Mr. Hitchcock, an excellent judge of steeplechasers, that John M. r. Is only a two-miler. He is certainly no match for an American fencer of the best class over the long course.
