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BIG TURF SCANDAL IN AUSTRIA Only the faintest echo has reached this country of one of the biggest turf sensations that have exer ¬ cised the minds of continental sportsmen in recent years It seems that some little time ago the stewards of the Austrian Jockey Club were dis mitlstied with the running of tho horses owned by Baron Springer and trained by Reoves They there ¬ fore ordered that saliva should be taken from the months of the horsos after they had raced and the fluid was handed over for examination to the famous analyst Professor Fraenkl of the Vienna Univer ¬ sity This authority is said to have reported that he found in the saliva traces of strychnine and morphia When ho hoard of this Baron Springer was so disgusted that he expressed his intention unless the matter could bo satisfactorily cleared up of dispersing both his racing and breeding studs What this threat means to Ihe Austrian turf may be gauged from Ihe fact that Baron Springer owns about 01 thoroughbreds The baron at the saino time declared his absolute confidence in his trainer and his linn belief that if the horses had actually been do ed Reeves knew nothing alnuit it He further suggested that perhaps some gambling clique outside the stable had induced one of tho lads to lope the linrsei The other day however an article appeared in the Berliner Tageblatt which puts a decidedly dif ¬ ferent complexion on tho affair and suggests that possihly if not probably the accusation lias a very insecure foundation About a year ago there was i similar case in Vienna Then as now the saliva of the horses alleged to be doped was sub jnittod to Professor Fraenkl for analysis and as a result of liis report a wellknown trainer was Avaltied off The German Jockey Club interested themselves in that business and delegated a Ger iimn professor of chemistry to be present at the examinations made by Professor Fraonkl When the German professor returned homo he proceeded to carry out some examinations on his own account for he entertained some doubt about the correctness of the analysis uiado in Vienna and of tho deduc ¬ tions drawn from them And sure enough lie is said to havo obtained from saliva taken out of the mouths of horses after they had run in a race horses that had IKHMI under strict surveillance and could not possibly have been doped exactly the same reactions which Professor lracnkl had secured from tho saliva of tho supposedly doped animals animalsThe The German Jockey Club reported this discovery to their Austrian brethren and thereupon the latter appointed a committee of experts to investi ¬ gate and report There were four professors of chemistry on this committee They were given jMjrtlons of saliva taken from horses that had not been doped Each professor was required to make Ills analysis independently In due course their reports were handed in and they were found to differ so greatly that the Austrian Minister of Agriculture Who had taken a keen interest in this experiment expressed the opinion that the tests were quite unreliable In the face of this experi ¬ ence it certainly seems strange that the Austrian Jockey Club should again be relying upon th tts or some which are presumably similar From the foregoing plain recital of the facts so far us it has been possible to ascertain them from articles appearing in the German press it seems pretty clear that the evidence on which the Aus ¬ trian Jockey Club have taken action cannot be re ¬ garded as by any means conclusive and for the lienelit of all concerned it is to be hoped that the matter will be probed still further In the mean ¬ time of course Baron Springer and his trainer are placed in a very trying position Both are well known in this country and I venture to say that the general impression here will be that somebody has made a very grievous mistake London Sport ¬ ing Life of August 10
