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POMMERNS PROSPECTS NEXT YEAS. Critics Think No Horse Capable of Opposing Him Q» Successfully Will Be Found. In the midst of their current troubles English . turf writers still find time to look into questions s of the future. Among the matters under discussion 1 is the finding of worthy opposition to Pommern in 1 suHi events of 1910 as may be open to him. The outlook is all his way now. "Warren Hill" of . f S|M«rting Life, who takes delight in analyzing such 1 situations said recently of this matter: "It is when we meet so many owners and breeders ? and provincial trainers at the December Sales that ■ we enjoy a chat on the prospects of next years ? thrce-year-ohls. and naturally the question of what J. is likely to prove the best three-year-old is of the greatest iuiiiorlance to all who have mares to mate. Sometimes the question is easy enough to answer, hut for the last three or four years the Derby, which is looked upon as the supreme test, lias had its reputation so shattered that it must : lake years to recover. That the iiest horse won .: this year admits of no doubt, for Pommern was Iterhaps a fitting candidate for inclusion with the J greatest horses of the century. To his great public , achievement of winning the triple crown with ■j so much eae must be added his great accomplishments at home . "As a two-year-old. for instance, he was tried ca|able of beating Poor Boy at even weights aliout . a week before Coodwood. and though the demand ,1 for Follow l|i kept everything else at 10 to 1. those who knew all about Pommern had a good j win. It was feared, however, that Poor Boy was I not in form, because he finished in the rear for the Stewards Cup. But. even then. Pommern was not so good as a two-year-old as he was at three relatively, ,. ," for there is no doubt whatever that he could beat Black Jester at even weights in the autumn, and in one gallop especially which they y had together did he : et the seal on his excellence. ; In the race won by the French-trained horse Durbar ■". IL. there wire too many foreign jockeys riding, |. and the Iiest of English horses were all put it out of court through being kicked or knocked j about. "The pervious year we pass over without comment, " and Tagalies year was a parallel to Sigiio-rinettas. With good jockeys riding, the Epsom race proved a reliable guide for generations, but ,7 it is a bad course for the present style of riding, r and it is to be feared that collisions, crossing, and "J jostling will always Ik- rife. "Among the older horses from which the champion " must spring next year. Pommern must prove J a trlton amongst minnows, and even if the path «a- not cleared «.f some of the l est horses, as it is. *: lie would have no difficulty in sweeping the hoard V, of all the principal races open to horses of all " ages. The four year-Ids of this year should have included Kennytnore. Brakcsiioar. Corcyra. Haps-burg s. and The Tetrarch. in addition to Black Jester. i- Lanius. Carancho. By George!, etc., and the fact ,f that The Tetrarch was placed ten pounds above ■ . Corcyra by the official handicapper in the Free ,«. Handicap for then two-year-olds, and Corcyra •a proved himself from seven to ten pounds better .r than Hapshurg. there was proof enough of the ie mediocrity of the three-year-olds of 1914. from which the four-year old class had to be formed this year. But then. The Tetrarch could not be trained, ami the death of Lord Londonderry put Corcyra out of court. Then Hapshurg failed, and By ,y George!. Aldford, Parhelion. Stornoway. Courageous. * Happv Warrior. Longtowu. Ambassador. Calgary, Land of Song. Pictorial. Honeywood. Itadway, Flying r- orb and Armant. which alone were handicapped ■d at 11- pounds and over, all degenerated into to quite moderate handicap performers, and left Black K Jester alone in his glory to champion the four-year-olds r" of the season. "If we look further down below the 112 pounds ls mark in that Free Handicap we sec Lanius. Carancho r: and Wlllbrook rising to the distinction of * Cup horses and craeks. because nearly everything 5 else deteriorated in the same proportion that those *!; alMive 112 pounds had done. Further. Kennymore had to retire to the stud, and from the dark division "i % -»nly Son-in-Law and Peter the Hermit ••merged to dispute their path. Now Carancho ... ■ goue to the stud, and Willbrook has disap-i.. , IT ■• .■■!. so that there is nothing left but Black .. • r. Peter the Hermit. Lanius and Sou-in-Law JJ iiis years four year-olds with any pretentious *j t« -alMp a Cup i-ourse. "Horses do not seem to last so long in these sp. 5 forcing days, and it may incidentally be mentioned that the five-year-olds, China Cock. Florist. Light j,i Brigade. Fairy King. Maiden Erlegh. Rivoli, and ,A the six-year-olds. Wrack and Cyllene More, have retired to be stud. 1 do not know whether Dia a liitmenos can be trained into a stayer, but 1 doubt 1,1 his standing the HMMR work, and this brings gs us back to Black Jester. Peter the Hermit. 1-anius aiid Son-in-Law. If all were sound and at their ■ir l est. Black Jester and Son-in-Law would come out tit best, but PonjUiCiu has the measure of all, and id ] a , j , : ; ] ] ] 1 , • 1 j I ! i 1 ; I • ; j . i s . 1 1 f 1 ? ■ ? J. : .: J , ■j . . ,1 1. j I ,. he ," y ; ■". |. it j " ,7 r "J " J is. *: V, " s. i- ,f ■ . ,«. •a .r ie his superiority to Snow Marten places him far i ahead of Son-in-Law. a "The only trouble, then, that Mr. .Joels horse could find would be from the three-year-olds, but so far as one can see the crack two-year-olds of 191-1 ■ deteriorated to an even poorer class than those of the previous year. Friar Marcus, which was placed i at the head of the poll, was not altogether a failure. as he retained his fine speed, but failed to stay, and being a sturdy, fully matured colt, there is no lik- « lihood of his ever getting lieyoud three-quarters. Rosoland. which was handicapped within a pound j of him. shared the fate of his stable companion, Tu-i t Tetrarch, and has been retired to the stud. Silver i Tag is a brilliant little inare. whose course does | not extend beyond the Cambridgeshire distance, t and allowing that she lieat Let Fly there was a i further line for Pommern through My Ronald and t Snow Marten to prove his great superiority. "King Priam may never stand a preparation to j enable him to show his form, which could not have i been correct last season, and Torloisk. of which l we expected much at the close of his two-year-old j career, unfortunately became touched in his wind. , but had scarcely a superior over the T. Y. C. Red fern, which assisted greatly towards the undoing t of Let Fly by his great battles with him last year, went abroad. Another that was erroneously placed • above Pommern when a two-year-old was the Irish horse. Ballaghtohin. but though he proved no match l I for our horses when he tried his luck under substantial weights in the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire, with the three-year-olds Snow Marten and I Silver Tag respectively,, he. .remained easily cuauip-i • ion of Ireland. "Manxman neither improved nor deteriorated, but - Volta is a horse which has not yet been fathomed. His speed is tremendous, and he and Black Jester • are the only animals that might trouble Pom- mern over a distance below seven-eighths. Noth- ing. perhaps, throughout the season created greater ; astonishment than Volta when he covered a mile in the Select Stakes in 1:37. with as much ease J as if it had been five-eighths. It may be that he ! had nothing to do. though Ambassador and Sun Yat were meeting him at a pound, and the latter r was given 122 pounds in the Cambridgeshire, ten 1 IMiunds more than Ambassador. His speed, how- ever, can scarcely lie equal to Pommerns. and it : is not at all likely, therefore, that Volta would 1 equal him in stamina. "Sunfire. which made little improvement, has s gone to India, and Follow Up has gone quite the J wrong way, though he is a colt of good size that might improve. He has not been sold by Col. Hall I Walker, but remains at C. Waughs with Russley and a few others. Danger Rock, which won the 5 Newmarket Stakes, beating Let Fly, unfortunately met with an accident when running in the Derby, * and another stayer that ended his career in the - July meeting was Apothecary, which won the race * substituted for the Ascot Gold Cup. though in the * Derby lie had scarcely been able to keep Pommern 1 in sight. "Snow Marten proved herself a good, honest little b mare when cool and well, and her effort in the Cesarewitch - against Son-in-Law and the four-year-old 1 Eau Claire will prove to have been a great one as s time goes on. She may have been much better than i when Pommern beat her so easily in the race sub-5 - stituted for the St. Leger. though there is also the I probability that he had come on quite as much, and it would be a correct summary to say that he can i gallop much faster and stay as well. "Rossendale. a tine, powerful, old-fashioned sort t of cup horse, has. I see, gone to the stud, and such ii a magnificent sou of St. Frusquin, of such high cotir- - age, should be a great success. Lux is a good horse, ., but difficult to train, and he is, moreover, a gelding. . Passport is a big horse that improved rapidly as age gave him strength. For some reason he could not run after defeating The Vizier and Sunfire at tue end of July, but if he gets all right and stands I a preparation, he will make one of the best of the J four-year-olds. The Vizier began his three-year-old career by running away with the Esher Handicap 0 at Sandown. receiving fifteen pounds from Lux. • which was not quite at his best, but he gained a a place in the Two Thousand and ran much better in J the Derby than generally supposed. Handicapped 1 in the Cambridgeshire at 113 pounds. I expected that t he might represent the stable, but he was evidently v not so good as Silver Tag. and that would leave a a big margin between him and Pommern. just as his ■ Derby running showed. "No other three-year old that I can recall has anv chance of taking high rank as a four-year-old, 1, anil therefore Pommerns chief opponents must be e held perfectly safe. These I take to be Black k Jester, law, Son-in-Law, Snow Marten. Volta, i, Silver Tag. Torloisk. The Vizier and possibly Hasta. i. whose earlv career was quite destroyed through the e splitting of a pastern: in fact, I believe this oc-,„ curred twiop. and she was only just coming t» her-js r- self in the autumn. They are. of course, eham-V i- pious of various distances, but it is possible Pom-•a i- mern tnav have to tackle each over its best course." "
