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FEATURES OF RACING IN GERMANY. The Sport Is Well Hcgulated and Growing in Popular Favor Principal Events Very Valuable. George Walker, who will take little Joe Notter to Germany with him. is very enthusiastic over racing in that country, where" he has trained one of the -largest .stables for the past five years. Mr. Walker talks Very entertainingly of the German turf, its principal courses, Its stake races and its atmosphere as compared to that of America, of which, in a recent interview, lie had the following to say: "Racing begins in Germany April 24 at Cologne." said Mr. Walker, "and continues up to November 1 at the different tracks Hamburg, Baden-Baden, Iloppegartcn, Frankfort and other courses. Hoppc-garten, -at Berlin, is the Newmarket of Germany. The meeting there is In the middle pf summer and all the big trainers make that headquarters. All the tracks are under the direction of the Union Jockey Club. "The big racing there is on three days of the week Saturday. Sunday and Monday. They have big crowds. 30,000 or 40,000 people on Sunday and. of course, more on the great racing days like the Derby, when they have an attendance of 00,000. All the betting Is by mutuels, no booking or other betting being !permltted. "The atmosphere of the German race tracks is1 considerably different from that In America. For one thing there Is not near so much demonstration: all is quiet and conservative, but the people enjoy the races none the less. Of course, after the winning of the favorite there is some enthusiasm, but not as in America. It is a big mans sport there, as all tiie stables are owned by men of wealth and prominence. "The Messrs. Weinberg have their Tiome establishment at Frankfort and. while they have exten-slv businessjnterests botli there and in this country, they are thorough sportsmen, especially Dr. Artlmr Weinberg, who is a great student of racing and breeding. "Tiie regular purses are of good value, very seldom less than ,000 and generally from ,200 to ,000. The big stakes are the Grand Prize of Berlin, the Hanser Prize of namburg. the Grand Prize of Baden and the Derby. The Hanser Prize Is 50.000 marks, the Grand Prize of Berlin Is 70.000 marks, and the Derby, the biggest race of all, 100,000 marks, about 5,000 American money. "I have had good horses there, in fact the best," said Mr. Walker, "to which I attribute much of my success. I won Hie Derby twice and ran second twice. In 190G I won it with Fels. in 1907 with Desir, Festina ran second in 1905, and Horizont II. was second this season. This year the Weinberg stable won 720.4G7 marks, which is about S5.000. This was considerably more than the money won by the Graditz Stud, which is the government stud In Germany. The Graditz won 5G0.277 marks. "My big winners this year were Faust, Horizont II., Fervor a.nd Barricade. Faust won 21G.S00. Hor. izont III 213.270. Fervor 5G.350 and Barricado 37;-750 marks. Faust and Horizont II. are three-year-olds and the others two-year-olds. Fervor is considered the best two-year-old in Germany. Faust has never been .leaiten and he is. I think, a great horse. Ha carried 132 pounds and ran u mile In 139. "All the courses there are on the turf and the horses are all good weight carriers. I believe that they would Carry weight in this country just as well, however, although they might not go quite so fast, and that with the advantage of older and stronger jockeys the racing might be better. Anv-way, it Is well done and a fine sport In Germany." Jockey Reiff. who" only recently returned to this country from Germany, where he finished second on the list of winning jockeys during the past season, is thoroughly in accord with Mr. Walkers views on the German turf, expressing himself as follows: "I like Germany and German people immensely. Thats why Im going back to ride there next spring. I have a two-years engagement with the three gentlemen I rode for last summer, and I hope to be as successful next year as I have been this season. Germany Is picking up wonderfully to racing. Of course, racing there eaunot be compared to racing in France or England, but the people are taking more kindly to it each day, and next year will see a big improvement .both in quality of racing and in attendance. They liave just finished a now track outside of Berlin, an ideal place lor racing, and this will greatly help to increase the attendance. "I met Fred Burlew and Frankie ONeill in Paris, just before I sailed1." continued Reiff. "Success has so far crowned their efforts on the French turf. They began business by claiming several horses out of selling races, and with them ran races on the flat. I was told that the French stewards would only permit tiie Americans who have recently arrived to train jumpers. In case the Yankees wished to race horses on the flat they would only be able to do so by engaging trainers who were in receipt of licenses." Lucien Lyne, who will spend the holidays with his parents in Kentucky, was loud in his praise of Rhodora, Richard Crokers great -three-year-old fillv. "She is one of the best horses I ever rode and one of the greatest fillies I ever saw," he declared. "I rode her when she won the One Thousand Guineas at Ascot. I also had the mount when she fell in the race for the Oaks. If she had not met with an accident she would easily have won that race, for she was going strong when the Gypsy horse ran Into her."
