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FEATURES ATTENDING THE DECISION OF THE FUTURITY IN ITS MANY YEARS TO DATE j By Christopher .T. Filz Gerald. 1 New York. August 29. The autumn meeting of the Westchester Racing Association which opened today, will, bring to a close the most successful season that the turf has enjoyed in almost a decade, and it is appropriate that the Futurity should be the gem of the offerings which will make Belmont Park a meeting place on Saturday next for devotees of the turf from all parts of the western hemisphere. No race that is contested by thoroughbreds in the United States possesses the sentiment which attaches to this race. The Futurity lias done more to perpetuate the blooded horse in America than any other event ever offered. Designed on tlrs broadest and most liberal lines by the Coney Island Jockey Club in 1SS5, it was a success from its inception, the original running in 1S.SS bringing out a field of fourteen starters wtili a value of the prize reaching the then unheard of total of 0,900 net. James G. K. Lawrence, the secretary of the organization, wlio was a keen student of racing and a natural horseman to boot, was responsible for the race. There were predictions of failure when the initial appeal was made to the breeders of the country, it being a new idea to nominate the produce of mares instead of the individual. There wen- so many saving clauses in tho conditions, however, that the race won instant favor and the response was as spontaneous from the owner of a single mare as from the millionaire witii hundreds of matrons in his blue grass paddocks in Kentucky or the alfalfa fields of California. Mr. Lawrence made it a condition that no fee should be paid in case a foal was born dead, nor was there an obligation if a mare dropped twins, or was barren. Special weight allowances were conceded to the produce of untried sires and dams or those that had failed to produce winners. In addition there was a ash bonus to the nominators of the first three, the total of ,750 being divided into three premiums of ,000. 00 and 50 respectively. The permission to transfer an entry was a still further appeal, and breeders, realizing that, their yearlings would have an enhanced value if nominated for the rich prize, gave the race their solid support. It was around the Futurity that the Coney Island Jockey Club built up much of its prestige and it was tli best advertized race in the United States. When this organization abandoned its Shcepshend Bay home some years ago the Futurity was kept alive and was decided in 1910 and 1913 at Saratoga. Then August Belmont, representing the Westchester j Kaciug Association, secured permission to give not. onl.v it, but those other Coney Island classics, the! Suburban and the Lawrence Realization, at the splendid course which bears his name and the thousands which formerly journeyed to the track by the sea are now whirled from the heart of New York or Brooklyn in half an hour to a most modern plant a striking contrast to the early days of the event when every manner of vehicle with the exception of the automobile was employed to make the trip, which, even by train, took an hour and a half or more. Gone are the potato fields and meadows of Flatlands and Greenfields, but tiie memory of the days are fragrant with the old timers. The first Futurity was won by Sam Bryants white-faced gelding Proctor Knott, which had cost the tall Kentuekyian but a few hundred dollars. The big chestnut was ridden by a diminutive negro named Barnes and defeated by a neck Salvator. the pride of the copper king, J. B. Haggin. Thus at the outset the event was fraught, with interest. For an outlay of a few hundred dollars an unsaxed son of Luke Blackburn had brought his owner a competency for life. There was a rush to make nominations for future runnings. From the 0,900 net of Proctor Knott the race grew to 7,075 net in 1S90 when the Belmont pair, Potomac and Masher homebrcds from the famous Nursery Stud finished first and second. It was a fitting close to the racing career of the great man whose personality was one of the strongest elements in the government of the turf of that period. With Mr. Belmonts deatli came the dispersal of his stud and His Highness, by The 111 Used imported Princess, by King Tom, fell to the bid of David Gideon for ,000. This colt won the Futurity in 1S91. wortli 1916.sh1,075 net. The following season. 1892. Morello, which had been sold as a yearling for 25 was the. victor and the breeders of the country, realizing that there is no patent rigiit on speed, launched out still more boldly and the race became of international import. nice. Canada carried off the honors with Martim.is. in the colors of William Ilendrie, in 1S98, this b ing the only nomination from across the border. It was about this time that the breeding of thoroughbreds in tho United States was at its top There were about 4.000 yearling registrations with the Jockey Club, and farms devoted exclusively to the production of tho thoroughbred were to be found throughout Kentucky. Tennessee California, .Missouri. New York, Virginia, .Montana. New Jersey and Pennsylvania, while here and there in other portions of the Union men with a love for the thoroughbred and the germ of hope planted in their hearts were tempting fate and mating a mare or two with, tho best sires within their reach. When tho period of restrictive legislation was at its height in 1911 and 1912 most of tho mares were sold, many of them going to Australia and the Argentine. Only tilt? real optimist clung to the best of his dams. The nominations for 1915 were comparatively small as a consequence, and the value of the race was 0,590 net when Thunderer won, as against the 1916.sh7,575 of Potomacs year. The experts figure that Saturdays event will total 5,000 gross, so that material progress lias been made in a twelve month. With the turf entering upon a new era of prosperity still further improvement may confidently be expected until the high tide of IS! 10 in once more reached. Fortune has 1; i exceedingly kind to the Keene and Whitney stables in the past in connection with this event, the former winning it with Domino in 1893, Chacornac in 1W!9. Colin in 1907. Maskette in 190S and Sweep in 1909. The Whitney laurels were gathered in 1900 with Ballyhoo Bey; Yankee half interest with J K. Madden inlOOl, Artful in 1904 Pennant in 1913 and Thunderer in 1915. The present August Belmont lias not yet won the prize, though on a number of occasions his colors have been in second place at the finish borne by Lady Violet. Brigadier and Lord of the Vale. The experience of Richard 1". Wilson, whose good colt Campfire is considered js probable winner of the big race, should put heart into every breeder in the hind. Mr. Wilson secured this splendid colt, through the union of his young and untried sire Olambala and his young mare Nightfall. It was the mares first foal and as Olambala had not sired a winner prior to January 1, 1914. Campfire gains an allowance of five pounds and will carry 125 pounds instead of 130, which would have been his burden had he come from a family of producers as was the case of His Highness and Domino, both of which won with the maximum impost iu the saddle. The fact that both the sire and dam of 1 1 is Highness were past the twenty-year mark when he was sired, is interesting. As an added fascination to the breeding problem which delights the student of the turf at every turn, it may bis recorded that Ornus, the grand-sire of Campfire, was an outcast from tho Morris Stable sold to a negro for 00 and raced by him at New Orleans more than twenty years ago. lie was a lop-eared chestnut horse, bought in Kag-land as a yearling and failing to stand the drilling of that most severe of taskmasters, Wyndham Wal-den. passed into the discard. When taken to New Orleans he was a hopeless cripple, but one day when the track was a fetlock deep in mud lie won a race at odds of 100 to 1, hobbled off the course and was forgotten until Oiseau and Olambala. horses of high quality, flashed across the racing horizon. Ornus, the cripple, was by P.end Or, out of the noted dam Ashgrove. The blood of champions was in his veins and it Is passing to quicken future generations of American horses. The race on Saturday should bring out a strong field and on paper it would seem to be between Campfire, the Whitney quartet Bellringcr, Vivid, Rickety and Hard Cash the Belmont representative. Deer Trap, and James Butlers Ivory Black. On public form the race would seem to be between them, though the Macomber colt, Star Master, The Knocker and Tragedy from the Oneck Stable, Gilford A. Cochrans Burlesque and Madeira, Andrew Millers Ticket, Thomas C. McDowells America and the Sunset Stables Starfincli. some of which have big allowances, will not be friendless. Futurity Day has always been the occasion for a reunion of society and extensive preparations have been made for the entertainment of a throng from New York. Narragansett, Bar Harbor and otiier popular resorts, who will greet the faithful from Saratoga where the season had so great a fascination that neither seashore nor mountains could win their allegiance. There could be no prettier set-I ting for a great contest and, if tho weather is kind, i a record-breaking attendance may confidently be ! looked for by the management.
