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TRAVERS NO RACE AT ALL Not Ono of the Starters Ran to His Best Form Lay Blame to Cuppy Track. By Ed Cole. Saratoga, N. Y., August 21. Carefully analysing the Travers Stakes, one cannot say that it was a good test for any horse in the running. It was not a horse race at any stage. Expert horsemen are at a loss to understand it or explain why it was so uninteresting. Not one of the starters ran near to its best form. The subsequent race won by Little Nearer was a far better contest from a. point of observation and was just about as good from a time standpoint, yet there is no comparison between Little Nearer and any one of the contestants in the Travers. "It was the worst race that Rickety has ever run," said James Rowe. "I cannot figure it out, as none of the horses showed speed at any time. It was no race at all. In fact, I consider it the worst, as a contest, that we have had this year. It may have been that the cuppy track had much to do with it. I suppose it was one of those races wherein the riders thought they were doing the right tiling by turning the race into a sprint, but the funny part of it is that when they asked their horses to run they couldnt. They died one after the other. t "The going also may have had much to do witli it, as the Saratoga track is one of the worst in this section. Some horses cannot run over it at all. I brought Regret up here as fit as she ever was, but I am not going to start her. She lias .shown me that she cannot move because of the sandy nature of the track. It pulls some horses all apart when they try to extend themselves, while it suits others. Had aii3-onc told me before the race that Rickety would have been beaten in 2:08. it would have sounded ridiculous." In speaking of a meeting between Hourlcss and Omar Khayyam, Mr. Rowe was of the opinion that Hourless would beat him on a fast track, qualifying ids remark by saying Omar Khayyam would have to run a much better race than he did in the Travers to have a chance. They may come together at Belmont Park, but not here, Hourless having gone off a trifle owing to the skin disease that entered the Belmont stable. Omar Khayyam Did All Asked of Him. Omur Khayyam will probably be seen once again before the cup race on the closing day of the meeting "I shall have to work him anyhow," said Mr. .Carman yesterday, "and I might just as well race him, which will do him more good" than a work-out. In alluding to the Travers, all I can say is that Omar Khayyam did all that was asked of him. There is no doubt in my mind that he would huve won, no matter how the race was ruu, I told Jockey Butwell to use his own judgment, to lie, close up if the pace warranted it and if not, to let him step along to the front if he felt inclined, as he is a horse that will do his own running and his own thinking. Notwithstanding the poor looking contest, Omar Khayyam has beaten all those behind him, excepting Sunbonnct on more than one occasion and he showed he can do it again. Nothing .vould have pleased me better to have seen the race i hot one from start to finish, because he would have won just us easily and would have made a much better record from a time standpoint." As before stated, the peculiar composition of the soil at Saratoga has had much to do with the inconsistency of some of the horses. This is becoming more apparent as the year progresses. Horses are well prepared for an event and they run nowhere, while those that have shown a liking for the going repeat their performance, even to common selling platers. Old-time handicuppers say "we are all up in the air" and many have folded up their books and arc merely onlookers, excepting when some horse that has shown good form over the course stands well out from its opponents. There have been so many changes in the going that the unexpected has fre-luently happened. Last Saturday the track looked fast on the surface, yet underneath it was bad. lockers report that real good horses like Westy Hoguu cannot raise a respectable gallop over the course, yet he is as fit as hands can make him. lie is not the only one. There are many others that will redeem themselves when they get to other scenes. The whole thing summed up is that the speculators are confining themselves to horses that have performed well over this track, more than to the calibre of horses.
