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INCREASE IN ATTENDANCE. ALTHOUGH SOME OF OLD-TIMERS ARE MISSING, CROWDS COME TJP TO EXPECTATIONS. War Conditions and Action of Saratoga Property Owners and Hotel Keepers in Advancing Rates for Accommodations Keep Many Away. By J. R. .TefTery. Saratoga, N. Y., August 13. With the meeting of the Saratoga Association for the Improvement of the Breed of Horses one-third over, conditions attendant upon the conduct of the sport justify the declaration that the season is successful to a degree fully commensurate witli the expectation of the management. While it is quite true that some who have been wont to. patronize Saratoga racing year after year, are absent this season for a variety of reasons, the -chief of which may be as-scribed to war conditions, the attendance at the track has been running to satisfactory figures and the purveyors of odds report that speculation, which was light at the outset of the meeting, has been steadily increasing in. volume of late. It may be mentioned in passing that a resentment of the action of local property owners and hotel keepers in sharply advancing the rates for accommodations this year because it seemed likely that there would be an unprecedented demand for them has likewise played an important part in keeping away a good many who otherwise would be here. The townspeople prepared for an influx of unparalleled proportions this year and one result of. the mistaken policy of exorbitant charges to which many of them committed themselves is that there are still any number of houses and rooms to let all. over the village. Old Rosebuds complete "comeback" to his best form after an absence of several years from racing is and will continue to be one of the most marvelous happenings of the year in racing. It has been pointed out that it often happens that a good horse is brought back to the races after suffering u breakdown, but that generally he fails to show the same good form that he did before his retirement. Old Rosebud has come back every whit as good as ever and has clearly earned the title to the championship honors of 1917. Cure likely to Bo a Permanent One. A case paralleling that of Old Rofeebud cannot lie recalled by the oldest turfmen. His complete recovery from his breakdown is ascribed to the only thing that could possibly bring it about unlimited time. When he was turned out trainer Frank D. Weir determined that he should have all the time needed for nature to work its cure. Usually trainers who nave a good horse turned put under similar conditions are unwilling to wait as long as they should and they do not get the desired results. It seems likely that Old Rosebuds cure is a permanent one. The leg that gave the "trouble is nqw seemingly as good as the others. Trainer Weir is pursuing a studied policy of racing Old Rosebud light in flesh so as to minimize the danger of a recurrence of the trouble. That is why some have ground for being critical of Old Rosebuds present appearance. It has been Mr. Weirs task to build up the geldings muscular development while keeping his weight down at the same time, and that he " is succeeding admirably good, judges concede. In High Cost, which has won six of - his seven starts of the season, Ray O. Egan has a two-year-old that is evidently far above the ordinary. Mr. Egan, a Californian who took over the breeding stock of the late Harry Stover upon that turfmans death, has refused an offer of 0,000 for the colt, made by Schuyler L. Parsons. Stover bred Mitten, the dam of High Cost, and she is. now in Mr. Egans possession. Mitten is now nineteen years old. She has produced Sevenfull, Coppertown, R. A. McCurdy, Envy, King AVorth, Pay Streak, High Cost and one colt that died before reaching racing age. . Coppertown being possibly the best of her produce until High Cost came along. Kenilworth which raced so well in the Stover colors, was Mittens mate each year until his recent death. Then Mitten was sent to Edward Cebrians Castleton bred stallion Von Tronip and High Cost is the get of that mating. Through a niisunderstandingMitten was not bred last year and therefore she has no foal this year. Last spring she was mated witli George W. Wingfields highly regarded English stallion Honeywood, which is standing at Reno, Jfevada. W. A. Burttschell is here, but without any horses. At the close of the Cnnadian racing season ho . shipped Fruit Cake and the other horses he trains to the Gentlemens Driving Park at Baltimore to be freshened up for the opening of fall racing on the Maryland circuit. His horses had been campaigned so strenuously that he concluded they absolutely needed a rest.
