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FINAL TOUCHES AT SARATOGA. Candidates for Opening Days Handicap Feature Work Gossip from the Spa. Saratoga, N. Y.. July 31. With the exception of the .Saratoga Handicap. the card for the opening day of the summer meeting of the Saratoga Association is strong and well balanced. That there will he added starters when the field for the handicap is posted is believed to be a certainty. It is doubtful if either of the Beverwyck pair. Berkeley and Sir John Johnson, answers the bugle. Sir John Johnson -has become sour. He stubbornlj- refused to work this morning. Despite his impost. Olambala will be the favorite. His race against Filz Herbert in the Lawrence Realization and his impressive, although not particularly fast work here causes him to be strongly fancied. His final exercise was a mile in 1:44 on the "Whitney" track this morning. Bouquet. Petticoat, Maltbie and Allliction were sent the handicap route on the main track. Bouquet did the mile and a quarter in 2:0SJ, the first mile being covered in 1:41s. anil finished stoutly. Petticoats performance was the best of the quartet. The fractional time of it was: 25. 50, 1:15. 1:41. 1:54, 2:07;. She was tiring at the end. but she had up more than the 8t! pounds she will have to carry Monday. Allliction, ridden by James dtowes stout exercise boy. -Marshall, did a mile in 1:42 and the full distance in 2:09. A feature of the morning work was a spin by. Sweep. He is ready for the Special, and the two-year-old that ilieats him from now on will have to bo of rare quality. His time was 12. 23J. 47-. l:00i and lrlSS. He pulled up at the seven-eighths mark in 1:2S;. Grasniere. by some claimed to be speedier than Sweep, was cantered three-quarters in 1:10. He Is a high-strung animal and liable to be left at the .post. . Woodford Clays Ocean Bound did a half in :49 and was not fully extended. She favored her right fore foot slightly as she walked back to where her owner and trainer stood. Her improved condition caused trainer French Brooks to exultingly remark: "She doesnt act much like a broken-down filly, does she? Her feet are tender, thats all." John Sanford, in speaking of the Hurricana-hred horses, which will race here, said: "Our horses were not well when they arrived, but are all right now. Wejiavc a stable similar to what we had last year, and with average luck will win about as many races as we did then. We Jiave no world beaters, luit believe some of our young "" horses are good oniS." John Sanford seemingly has a smart juvenile in Agnier. a brown filly by Clifford Muiest. This youngster, which will face the barrier for the lirst time during the approaching meeting here, worked three-eighths of a mile Friday morning In 352, and was pulling up at the half in 49. Bouquet, which was sick in Canada, has fully recuperated. A few days ago she galloped a mile over the "WHiitney course" In 1:43. If she can stay a mile and a quarter, with 105 up. she is likely to be a factor in the handicap Monday. Maltbie, 117, has done a mile in 1:43. Charles Hughes Barleythorpe, a line-looking two-year-old. did three-quarters in 1:15. the lirst half in 47. Sweep, now in perfect condition, did three-iiuarters Thursday in the "Whitney" going in 1:1S. Ills stable companion. Grasniere. worked a like distance on the main track in 1:15.
