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THE RETURN OF ORT WELLS New York February 19 Enoch Wishard the trainer who prepared Ort AAells in 1904 for his brilliant performances in the Tidal Realization and Advance Stakes and Commonwealth Handicap as well as for his effort in the Brighton Mile of 1905 in which he took the measure of the Suburban win ¬ ner Beldame is the man who will train the King Eric horse the coming season for another Brighton Mile At Sheepshead Bay this winter Wishard is housing twelve or fifteen twoyearold sons and daughters of Ort Wells destined to carry the colors of John A Drake the coming summer Wishard was in such bad health a few years back that he had to give up training He has been about race tracks comparatively little since Mr Drake tem ¬ porarily retired from the turf and his rest seems to have completelyMr restored his health completely Mr Wishard decided it would be worth while to take another chance with Ort Wells in the Brighton Mile after looking over the nineyearold son of King Eric and Teas Over at the Chinn farm near Harrodsburg Ky a few weeks ago Ort Wells has not become gross and studdy since he was put in the stud Like Meddler he has retained the athletic appearance of a horse in winter quarters He is not sound now and he never will be but Wishard Is of the opinion that lie will train and perhaps win a few important races during the year yearOrt Ort Wells will not be brought from Kentucky until he completes his stud duties in the spring He will be mated with Mr Drakes mares at the Chinn farm and some of those belonging to the Chinns themselves Wishard does not anticipate great dilli culty in getting Ort Wells ready for a bruising race at a mile by the middle of July Mr Drake has selected the Brighton Mile as the race in which to reintroduce Ort Wells to the metropolitan public for sentimental reasons It was in the Brighton Mile of 1905 that the great son of King Eric ran bis fastest eight furlongs A few days after taking the measure of the great Beldame he was defeated by Artful in the Brighton Handicap but he suffered no diminution of prestige on that account accountAfter After winning the Tidal and Realization Stakes and the Commonwealth Handicap at Sheepshead Bay in June and July 1904 and suffering defeat by Irish Lad in the Advance Ort AVells became sore and stiff Four uncommonly hard races wore put under his belt in less than three weeks He came back to the races in the autumn but his struggle with his old rival Delhi and with Stalwart a new aspirant for the threeyearold colt championship in the Century in which lie and the son of Meddler finished heads apart In a gallop of one mile and a half in 231 threw him off again and he went wrong behind at Morris Park while in training for the Municipal HamMcap and the Autumn Weightfor Age Race It is unusual for a horse to bow a tendon behind but that is what Ort Wells did or something so nearly like it that trainer Wishard could not tell the difference differenceWishard Wishard considers Ort Wells the swiftest and gamest horse he ever trained and he will put his best work into the task of getting him to the post in winning form this year If he succeeds in winning the Brighton Mile or even making a good showing the King Eric horses nomination in the big distance handicaps of the fall will naturally follow followIf If Ort Wells Incomes a useful handicap horse this year his experience will be unique Other stal ¬ lions have returned to the races after stud service and won from firstclass opposition The Friar served a few mares at Bowling Brook Farm in the spring of 1S9S between the time he won the Law ¬ rence Realization and the Brighton Cup of 1897 and the Flight Stakes and Twin City Handicap of 1898 but he was only absent from the races part of one season and he was not unsound when he entered upon his temporary retirement retirementOgden Ogden and Isidor retired from the turf in 1S98 by the late Marcus Daly for service at Bitter Root Stud were returned to the races in 1901 after Mr Dalys death by William Lakeland and the late Pittsburg Phil But Ogdeu and Isidor were per ¬ fectly sound when they went to Montana and their underpinning was firstclass when they came back They were only away a couple of years Ort Wells has been in Kentucky nearly five years Patrons yearsPatrons of the eastern turf would naturally rejoice to see Ort AVells make good upon his return to training The swiftness courage and unfailing con ¬ sistency of the horse won him a large following in 1904
