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AMERICAN TURF RECOVERING. 1 RESULTS FROM YEARLING SALES FURNISH PROOF SPORT IS REGAINING FAVOR. Many Men of Wealth and Standing, Who Have Become Interested in Racing, Are Largely Responsible for Present Conditions. By J. R. Jeffery. Saratoga. N. Y., August 15. The magnificent results which have as a general rule attended the yearling sales conducted here this month furnish an eloquent testimonial of the extent to which the American turf has recovered from the depression incidental to the repressionary legislation of a decade ago. For several years there has been an upward tendency in values, but it has remained for the present month to set the standard higher than at any time since the Hughes anti-racing legislation knocked the bottom out of the breedng industry ten years ago. The many men of -wealth and standing who have come into the sport of racing within the past two or three years are largely responsible for the highly satisfactory commons that are at present prevailing. These men, in their efforts to obtain worthy representation on the turf, are constantly vying with each other for the more desirable offerings, ami a demand is thereby created which lias stimulated the market to the point where the breeder finds it once more worth while to devote his efforts to the production of high-class stock. With" hardly an exception everything offered here this month possessing merit has been well sold," and in addition to the sales by auction there have been a considerable number of important private transactions, in which horses of proven merit hnve passed into new hands at fancy prices. Sales in which 0,000 is the consideration have become so common that they no longer excite comment. Desirable Accessions to New York Turf. It is no longer easy for the man of moderate means to obtain possession of a good horse, and racing in this part of the country appears to be developing more and more into a sport for rich men exclusively. It is doubtful if even in the golden days of the New- York turf, when the sport was at the zenith of its prosperity, as many representative men were, interested as nowadays, and it is a healthy sign of the times, as well as a happv augury for the future, that there seems to be no end to the infusion of fresh blood. The New York turf is receiving constant accessions from desirable sources and is in such high favor just now that it seems only a question of a short time before all the-ground lost a few years ago will have been regained. The splendid results obtained this year go to prove that Saratoga is unexcelled as a marketing place for yearlings. The reasons for this are self-evident. To begin with, everybody who is anybody in racing comes here. And while here, there ,is nothing to distract their attention from the racing, and its concomitant features, of which the yearling sales are perhaps the most important. The result is that the sales are invariably well attended. In fact, they are looked upon as an entertaining feature of the daily routine, and one which few care to miss, regardless of whether they intend to purchase or not. With thanks to the enterprise of E. J. Tranter, president of the Fasig-Tipton company of New York. Saratoga now boasts of facilities for the holding of these sales the equal of which cannot be found anywhere else. One so well qualified to speak as Clarence II. Mackay, who has visited the Tattersall sales paddocks- at Newmarket, in England, and the similar French establishments of Messrs. Clieri and Helbron, which are the most representative institutions of the sort abroad, pronounces the new paddock and sales ring which Mr. Tranter erected here this year the finest of its kind to be found anywhere in the world. Fasig-Tipton Company to Have Larger Quarters. Mr. Tranter is not content to rest on the laurels already won in this respect. Encouraged by the success of the yearling sales this year, he is planning to expand the sales plant and add new features to it for next year. The additions will include a building which will be devoted to the use of horsemen for lounging purposes, reading, letter-writing and similar uses. It will be equipped with a library containing the stud books and representative racing publications, shower baths, retiring rooms, ete. Quarters will also be provided for the use of the ladies with a maid in attendance. The plant at present embraces 200 box stalls and an ornate and commodious sales ring. It was fouiid inadequate this year, and a tent containing sixty-four stalls was pressed into service to accommodate the overflow of horses sent to the sales ring. Next year Mr. Tranter will have a greatly increased capacity in permanent stalls. The plant, which is located on East avenue, in close proximity to the race track, was begun in April last, after Mr. Tranter had been waited upon by a delegation of Kentucky breeders and importuned to provide accommodations here for the sale of yearlings each year. The Fasig-Tipton company, of which Mr. Tranter became the sole proprietor January 1, 1914, after having been associated with Edward A. Tipton in its ownership from 1904, abandoned the thoroughbred sales field several years" ago, and re-entered it this year In response to the demand already referred to. Charles F. Hill, who managed the stud of C. H. Mackay in Kentucky for many years, is in charge of the thoroughbred department of the company. President Tranter declares that much of the credit for the re-entry of his concern into the thoroughbred field and the construction of the model sales ring here should be given to Hal Price Headlcy, of the Beaumont Stud, at Lexington, Ky., who was the leading figure in the negotiations which led to the building of the sales mart and of "which all concerned should certainly feel proud.
