view raw text
LONGER RACES POPULAR ATTEMPT TO BE MADE IN THE COMINGSEA-SON 10 PROVIDE MORE OF THEM. Requirements of the Jockey Club Not Adhered To on New York Tracks Because of Scarcity of Horses Suitable for Such Races i By Ed Cole. "If there were more tana that v uld go a longer route thcM would be more races over Ion;; courses, but the sprinters must also be taken care of." Such was the reply to a question about lons-dis-tancc lacing put to Fred Kehberger, who has s| ent nearly all his life in a racing secretarys office, being a protean of the late Mr. Melntyre. At the present time he is discharging the duties of sr re tary at Belmont lark. Saratoga, Aqueduct and Havre de Grace. consequently he should know whereof he speaks. The advisability of longer races has been a subject of debate in around-the-stove arguments this winter in local racing circles. Not so much has it been discussed by horsemen as among the patrous of racing and the public generally. Taking the consensus of opinion, there is no question that both Ivgular and transient race-goers favor long-distaace racing. Infortunately lew there are who realize the difficulties that beset a secretary in providing races that will furnish contests of the right sort. "1 would like to see more races over longer courses," said Mr. Kehberger; "in fact, the rules of the Jockey Club call for more than we have. but when there are not sufficient horses to create contests, what can lie deuel If we have poor cards. the public criticize, and if we dont make races to suit every trainer there is criticism. It is a hard matter to please evorybedy. The rules call lor only one race a day at less than a mile, for three-year-olds and over, after June 1. and the conditions are framed accordingly, bat when the race wont fill we have to do the best we can to make a race. We have the privilege of calling a race off and substituting new conditions, but we always try to fill a long race l efore declaring it off. "In the autumn and the winter months it is much easier to got fields together for the longer distances than it is in the spring, especially in this district, as Hie horses which begin racing here are hardly seasoned after a winters rest. Then. too. when all the tracks are running the horses are well divided, leaving comparatively few for each of the associations. There are not enough selling platers around here to give even two races a day in tiie pring, and often it is difficult to fill one. I can till si sprinting races when sometimes I cant fill one over a longer course. I would be glad to have longer laces, and so would everyone else, I believe, for the public seems better satisfied with a long race as a spectacle. "The chances are we shall lie a little better off this year than we were last, as there will be more louses, and it may be possible to put on two races each day over a long course next spring. I sincerely bans so. though it must In- Koine in mind that sprinters must also he taken care of. There is no reason w liy sli.jrt races should lie curtailed to any extent just because there is a ry for races at longer distances. You know there are some horses which will not go over a long route, but have phenomenal speed over a short course. For instance, look at Dr. liashrmck. Correction. Domino. Key Del Carreres and the great Koselien. Had it not been for sprint laces lliery probably would not have lieen known. These are but a few instances of horses which never would have been able to go a long route w it ii any degree of success. Beery one was a grand thoroughbred, but they were not built for l"ng races any more than one athlete that can run well in a shirt race will not do over a twenty-mile route. We have to cater to all classes in horse racing, just as the secretary of an athletic association has to make a program for every variety of foot runner. "Before the crusade of 1910 long races filled well, and wo bad plentv of long-distance racing, but the scarcity of in rses has created a change in conditions, and while we shall not In- able to have the regulation number of long races this year on the local tracks, I feel assured we shall have more than we had last year. I think horsemen will have more i.piHirt unities for long-distance borate as we go along, and in the autumn we probably shell have at least throe races every day at the longer distance and rarely less than two, New Orleans can have 1 our and five long races every day. and they provide gi o i sport, because all the long-distance horse- are practically in one spot. We will have as many long-distance races in the east next year as the rules call for if then- are horsm enough to till them and create contests that will be satisfying to patrons of the sport." If any SMS is going to get out of it all there is in horse racing it is Trice McKinnoy. who. with his partner. lame* Corrigaa, will race under the nom ile course of the Wikliffe Stable. "If you dont think Jimmy and I are going to win every raec we start in you should he at Churchill Downs some night and hear us discussing our stable with W. C. Clancy who has in charge twenty as likely voung t is as you would wish to see." Thus spoke Mr. M Kinney recently when conversing with PhD J. Dwyer shout his string of two year-olds. "We had twenty seven in the lot. hut we gave seven of them to Harry Wsllhasser aid we may have given the best one way. One can never tell, but I dont think so. If one of the -oven turns out sued, so much the bettor tor Mr. Wnllhati-or. for there are no strings tied to the gift and I hope he will have success with them." Mr McKinnoy waa a-ked if he bad seen the two-year ■■Id colt by Colin — Acalot bought by Tom Wela : IS Englaud and said to tie the star of all the young le.rses brought here from abroad. "I have not seen him." answered Mr. ifcKinney, "but I am like the man who had a pood horse and wsa telling his friend ationt him when the friend snapped in with an offer to bet 0 he had *ne that could beat him. I think I have one that can beat him. no matter how Rood he :s. Colin may have gotten a fine colt from Acalot. I hope he has and if he is anything like the lot we have at Churchill Downs his prospects bare not been exaggerated." According to the present schedule CHaaey will have some of the Wickliffe youngsters ready for lacing in Kentucky next spring, after which they will be brought east to compete in the stakes for which atsny Imported horses have seen entered. There will lie others of the home product in competition which will give the world a line on the Has* of horses rained in Kentucky and other states as compared with tho-*- of noble lineage from the other side ot the Atlantic.
