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LONG DISTANCE RACING AT BOWIE. Eastern Horses Not to Ee Numerous at the First Maryland Meeting. [ By Ed Cole. ] New York. March 7. — Joseph McLennan, one of the busiest secretaries connected witii racing, is going to prove, if possible, there will be enoogb Morses in the spring of the year to till long distance rates to satisfy the popular cry for longer event-. lie has issued, the program book for Bowie, where racing begins April 1. and out of seven races dally there will tie at least three at a mile or longer. Those in a position to know bare maintained that it was the collusi .11 of some owners and trainers, -who like short races better than lli-: oie s. thai has kept under cover the fact there are plenty of long distance horses to till such races. The rule recently adopted by the Joekej Club will compel owners to "•nter for the longer races and to train their buses to bo longer routes. It is unquestionably a step in the right direction and Secretary McLennan will put men and horses to the teat as early as April. While at New Orleans this winter Mr. McLennan lias rarely had less than three long distance races on the card and sometimes si. lliey tilled well and furnished good contests in nearly every instance, is c.ict so open hare these races been that they lave provided fewer winning favorites than the sprtnts. When owners know thai they will bare to train horses for longer races they will do s . Scores of Instances may lie cited during the past lew weeks where horses that were generally considered to be nothing but sprinters have been Sent t*i the jKist in long distance races and have made good. Madame Herrmann, Greenwood, Bed Cross. Mi-- Fannie. Presumption and Illuminator and ]»i-sihly thirty others Which rand at New Orleans this winter started oil a- sprinters, but were eventually forced into the longer races. All at which goes to -how there sre plenty or b arses in this country ready to race at a mile or more which bane been kepi in the sprinting division because the wear and tear was not s.« hard on them and because their owners shirk the long distance races whenever possible. Now that the Jockey Crab has taken a hand and laid down stringent rules for sec retariea to follow, many bones thai were heretofore sprinter- will |M- to 1 in the longer races, and racing will be more pleasing to the public and the breed of be American thoroughbred Improved. II is donbtfnl if the eastern contingent will be ready to race many horses at Bowie, especially those fr aronnd the Long Inland tracks. The long drear] winter has had it- effect on the horses hereabouts. Shed work has been the only thing possible except in isolated cases. Sickness, too has played i;- part with some of the horses. While a few of the mnaUer owners may have representatives at Bowie, it is d abtfnl if any of the larger and more fashionable strings will be on hand Some hundred horses are at Conning and they will lie decidedly more forward than those from Long Island. as they usually are. It is asserted that the Garth hand of more than thirty will be pretty near racing condition by the time the season begins, owing to the more favorable Climate in Virginia, where they received their preliminary preparation. Garth is cue of the early trainers, so to speak. lie wins many a race- by catching other and better horses out of condition in the sluing and thereby gets a good start in the li-t of pane winners bv these tactics, r.ut the trainers at Banning are all g ing along steadily with their charges and thus,: wi,0 ],;lv. the material will give Garth an argument when it cornea down to a oneatJoa r early condition next spring. Already some speculation is going on as to which trainer will win the opening elasli -,t I.owit and Garth is the favorite in all arguments. There will be some races at the early spring meetings in which the conditions will call for the claiming of horses, but not the sale of the winner at auction. There is much conjecture in racing circles what the result will be and the variety of horses that will be sent to the post. It is a sure thing that horses of Ugh calibre will not lie entered in such races nnlees they are entered at a higher valuation than hitherto. A horse entered for *800 can win a purse of 1500 and an additional .3500 will have to he paid to get him. which will make the price received for the horse .siro. ,300 of which be paid by the purchaser. The purchaser can feed the hone for a couple of days and enter him in a similar race- for the same amount and should he win a parse he eonld let him go if claimed and would profit |500 ley the transaction. The claiming rule without the selling clause may create consider able ill feeling. It will make it possible for a pel sou to claim winners out of selling races and only have a small expense of training to stand. and some unscrupulous owners could doubtless win parses innumerable with little outlay. Again it probably will encourage friendly claiming, which i- decidedly against the rales of racing. The claiming plan will no doubt be tried, but penalty conditions probably would better eliminate the entering of handicap horses in selling races. Penalize winners of selling races extensively and that will keep them out of races where they do not belong. Heretofore secretaries have not penalized high-class horses eligible to selling races sufficiently to keep them from being entered cheaply. Make high-class selling platen carry 129 or 130 pounds in races made for cheap bones and that will keep them from becoming extensive speculating events, which seems to be the I in of contention. Selling handicaps, too. will remedy the evil somewhat. To enter a Ugh-ebus l.orsc- in a cheap selling race is an evil to racing. Speculators like the late Mike Dwyer and the more recently demised John W. Gatea did much to create disturbances along these lines and while they made money at times they occasionally lent a bone. The thing to be solved is tive keeping of the high-priced selling plater or handicap horso out of cheap selling races.
