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LAST WEEK OF A GRAND MEETING. Saratogas Annual Reunion to Close Next Saturday with Its Richest Card. By C. J. Fitz Gerald. Saratoga Springs, N. Y., August 21. With only this week of racing to regale the visitors at this resort, expressions of regret, th-it the season is so near its close are heard everywhere. Italian skies have prevailed and the air has been deliciously cool except on one or two days when the entire country sweltered. Not a drop of rain has fallen during tiie racing hours and the sport lias been of a charaetei-which will furnish food for comment long after the Jockey Clubs season for 1910 has closed. A noteworthy feature of the meeting was the phenomenal manner in which the yearlings offered by the various American and foreign breeders were absorbed at prices that would have been regarded as sensational in any year. Tiie fact that many of the b.st of these juveniles were taken by men and women hitherto unknown, or at least not playing a. prominent part in the sport, is auspicious and augurs well for the future of the turf which must have j new blood lest it retrograde. Undoubtedly the most important happenings of I the past week, and one that will affect the breeding interests of the United States to a great extent, was the securing of the J. B. Joel and Edmond : Blanc yearlings by Messrs. A. K. Macomber and i Joseph E. Widener. respectively. Mr. Joel lias been j the most successful of the English breeders for some j years, and the fact that most of the youngsters ! secured are by Prince Palatine. Polymelus and Sun- j star is a guarantee that their influence will be felt in this country. Edmund Blanc occupies in France a similar position to that of Mr. Joel in Great Britain, and Mr. Widener was fortunate enough to-secure all of the yearlings in the paddocks of the-distinguished French breeder. Many of them are by Ajax. that great son of Flying Fox, while others are by Verwood, a highly-tried sire and race horse. Were it not for the war, which has curtailed racing-on the continent, these purchases would have been, impossible, as both Messrs Joel and Blanc, who have repeatedly headed the list of winning owners abroad, race horses of their own breeding almost exclusively. Wednesdays program will be enlivened by the Adirondack Handicap of ,000, for two-year-olds. The distance is three-quarters, and Friar Rock won it for the Jockey Clubs chairman in 1915. This years eligible include Deer Trap. Ivory Black, .lock Scot. Hollister. Ticket. Tragedy. The Knocker, Koh-i-"N0or Crank, Harry Kelly, Sedan, Bellringer. Herd Cash and others that have either won or performed well under colors. The Amsterdam, a selling event for three-year-olds and over, at one mile, with the usual plater delegation among the availa-bles, will be Thursdays offering, while on Friday the card will be made up of overnight events for good purses. On Saturday, when the meeting will close, there is a rich wrd to send everybody away satisfied. Like the gourmand who reserves his bonne bouche for the tinal appeal to his appetite, the Saratoga management has kept what should be its best contests for the last day. Thore is the BeverwycL Steeplechase for the timber-toppers, with Weld ship, Pebeto, Bonny Laddie, Brentwood, Syosset. Hibler, Lysander. Knight of Merci and all other good jumpers eligible. For the two-year-olds the 7,500 Hopeful Stakes, at three-quarters, is such a tempting bait that it is bound to bring out every good two-year-old in training. Cnmpfire, Bellringer, Hwfa, Hard Cash, Sedan, Deer Trap, Omar Khyyam, Ivory Black, America, Hollister. Stargazer, The Knocker, Meteorite and Harry Kelly are some of those that will start for the event, which will be second only to the Futurity in value among the races for two-yeir-olds this year. Dominant won it in 1915 with 130 pounds up. and there are those who think that Campfire can show an equally high performance on Saturday next. It is the Saratoga Cup. for three-year-olds and over, at one mile and three-quarters, -which should furnish the old-timers with real sport, however, and it is to be hoped that a lield worthy of the traditions of this historic race will go to the post. The race was first contested in 1S05, and during the interim it has been won by many great horses. It was originally run at two miles and a quarter, which is the true Cup distance, and it was won the lirst year it was offered by Hunter tt Trovers champion, Kentucky, by Lexington, which repeated in 1800. The names of Longfellow, Harrv Bassett, Springbok twice. Parole twice. Bramble, Thora, General Monroe twice. Volante, Africander, Beldame, Caughnawaga, Olambahi, Sam Jackson and Boamer, the latter in 1915, appear on the roster of winners. Eligible for this years running are Strom -boli. Friar Rock, Flying Fairy, Trial by Jury, The Finn. Short Grass, Boots, Boamer, Crimner, Ed Crump, Dick Williams, Regret, Pennant, Chicle and Nylon. The distance was reduced to two miles in 1S91 and to one and five-eighths miles in 1901, when it was won by Blues. The following year it was run at the present distance. It is to be honed that at least a half dozen of the above will go to the post and that we may have a contest that will show that Americas thoroughbreds are not an aggregation of sprinters.
