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JOHNNIE BLAKES RACING RECORD. Fred Cooks Johnnie Blake is unquestionably the best two-year-old on the northern circuit, but just how good a colt he is remains to be determined. In winning the last eight" of his nine starts he has done all that has been asked of him, but those victories have come so easily that it is apparent that he has never shown the extreme limit of his speed. He lias never raced over a muddy track, but his owner says he will prove himself equally capable, in soft going. His last three races were experimental. Nicol, who had ridden him at all times, was instructed in one of them to try him out as a front runner; in another to let him conic from behind and in another to sprint hiin a bit, take him back and then come again under the whip, this latter as a test of his responsiveness.. lie has not been found deficient in anything. He can carry weight, and from the manner of his running it is presumed that he has no dislike for a long route, yet a test in this respect has not been made under colors. Trainer Phillips has said there is 110 question but that he is a better colt than was the speedy George C. Bennett at the same age. If the trainer Is correct in his judgment, then there is 110 reason to doubt that the half-brother to Columbia Girl will hold his own in the good company he will meet at the New York tracks later in the year, it being understood that Cook has planned to ship to the big tracks immediately after the close of the meeting at Buffalo. Johnnie Blake does not owe his owner anything, though his winnings have not been extraordinary. Cook paid ,000 for the son of The Commoner Salaire at the sale of the Edenwold yearlings at Saratoga last summer and he has returned to him ,750, net, in stakes and purses. Johnnie Blakes one losing race was his first start at Toronto, May IS. The record of his eight successive victories is as follows: Date. Course. Wt. Dist. Time. Val. Odds. May 23 Toronto ....112 4 1-2 55 $ 305 7-10 -May 2lToront 113 r-S 1:002 1,115 5-5 June 4 Hamilton ..IIS 4 1-2 55S 310 2-5 June S Hamilton ..125 5-S 1:01 g 300 7-10 June 12 Hamilton ..120 5-S 1:02 300 1-7 June 15 Buffalo 117 4 1-2 513 ;;.- 1-4 June 21 Buffalo 117 4 1-2 55J 345 1-4 June 271 Buffalo 115 5-8 1:01 J 075 3-5 Victoria Stakes, flroquois Stakes.
