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VICTORY OF ANGELUS WAS NO FLUKE. His Race in the Crescent City Derby Had Been Better Than Accounts Showed. New Orleans. La., March 24. — The surprise of the racing season here was the victory of Angelus in the City Park Derby last Saturday. When the Eurlcw and ONeill stable first arrived here in the fall, this gelding was remarked on as a well proportioned, racy-looking type of the thoroughbred. But his performances did not bear out that theory, as he turned out to lie one of the most pronounced in-and-outers shown here this winter. Mud appeared to be his hold and. except on one or two occasions, he won his races in heavy going off by himself. On drying out. or fast tracks, however, the case was different. He d -feated poor opponents and again he was beaten iu poor company under favorable weight conditions, one of the most notable instances being on February 28. when the track was designated as "good," and Blagg. John Carroll and Cooney K. finished in front of him in 1:15. If of good class enough to beat a colt like Meelick, Angelus ought to have won this race pull d to a walk. Undoubtedly Angelus has been improving throughout the winter. His best previous race was in the Crescent City Derby, and if one analyzes that performance closely, and takes into account the weight differences in the two Derhys. it can readily be s. en that Angelas had a right to put up a hard contest with Hihlretlfs crack colt. In the Crescent City Derby Angelus trailed Chapultepec and Meelick into the stretch, but within striking distance. At the furlong post when Meelick drew away from Chapultepec, Notter. who rode Angelus. saw that it was all up and eased his mount, only being careful to save third money from Pinkola. In this race he carried 119 pounds, while Meelick had up 122 pounds. Iu the City Park Derby Meelick carried 127 and Angelus 110 pounds, thus making a difference of eight pounds in the running of the two races. Any careful observer whose judgment had not been warped by the previous poor showing of Angelus would have said at once that Hildreths colt did not give the son of Sandringham an eight-pound beating at the Fair Grounds and had all the horses been of ordinary quality instead of high-class stake animals, and had the race been a cheap affair instead of a Derby, the smart handicappers would at once have figured on Angelus as a very potential factor in the race. It was not altogether unexpected that the running of the Fair Grounds race might lie reversed, but not one man in a hundred who saw the contest believed that Angelus could take down first money. This was shown in he fact that 2 to 1 was on offer against Angelus in the betting for the place and with few takers at that. All turfmen do not hold to the view that Meelick had staled and was not as good as he was when he won the Fair Grounds Derby. The colt looked good, he warmed up exceptionally well in his preliminary aud in the race he showed that he had his usual speed, for he stuck to Chapultepec to the middle of the stretch before he began to hang out distress signals. Trainer Leary thought his charge was fit and so advised Hildreth by wire and there Is little doubt but that he ran as good a race as he is capable of. With a five-pound disadvantage in the weights, Dugan undoubtedly made a mistake in too closely following the pace made by Chapultepec, but that made no difference in the result. Meelick would have been beaten anyway. He is a good colt, hut it must lie admitted that Chapultepec and Angelus are also good ones, although the issue demonstrated the opinion expressed by the writer early in the season that the son of Gerolstein is only a sprinter and that a mile is just about his limit in fast company. Angelus is as evenly turnid and as bloodlike a looking horse as one could see in a days journey. He has a short back, yet standing over plenty of ground, long, round quarters, a good shoulder, good shoulder depth and a game, breedy-looking head and neck. He is well engaged in the eastern three-year-old stakes ami Meelick will have the opportunity to take another try at him early after the beginning of the eastern racing season.
