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AUGUST BELMONTS STABLE FOR 1918 GREATEST EVER TRAINED BY SAMUEL C HILDRETH four horses he is wintering at Helmont Park for Major August Itelmont who is absent in France in his countrys service Samuel C Hildreth be ¬ lieves lie is managing the sti ment lie has trained in his hisof of thoroughbreds Hildreth rates the Helmout stable of 1918 a stronger establishment that the stable of which Fits Herbert King James and Novelty were the stars lie trained for himself some years back With reasonable luck he expects to finish at the top of the 1018 heap but he will not call the sort of luck he had last year good luck albeit he developed for Mr Helmont in Lucullite a twoyearold of unusual quality and in Hornless as good a runner of any age as has been seen in this country recently In Hoiirless Hildreth declares he is training the greatest racer he ever trained Fitz Herlwrt not excepted In Lncullite he thinks lie lias the best threeyearold prospect to be found anywhere Strom iHtli he believes will train soundly and race bet ¬ ter than he did in 191 and 1911 because the Fair Play gelding has got over a gastric disorder which prevented him from showing his real quality iu his first second and third years In Fernrock lie has a stout handicap liorse of the second flight and in Drastic lie has another rattling good thrce yearold Hesides these horses all of which have shown form under colors at one time or another Iliidreth has some other threeyearolds that have shown him something worth while in private and nineteen twoyearolds of Hritish French and American stock all of them goodlookers and most of them fleet runners It is largely because of the promise of his twoyearolds that Iliidreth thinks so well of bis band bandllourless llourless and Stromboli are to be the handicap horses of the Helmont stable in the spring and summer Lucullite and Drastic are to bear the silks of the Jockey Club chairman in the great threeyearold specials Lucullite and Drastic have been named for the Metropolitan Handicap which will be the first of the great races for three yearolds and over run about New York this year as in the past but it is improbable that either will be seen under colors before the miming of the AVithers And after the running of the Withers these colts will train for the Hjflmoflt the Brook ¬ lyn and Empire City Jerbysand the Travers ami Kenner Stakes They will not take on the older horses until toward the end of August when both Hildreth says may try their luck in the Saratoga Cup CupHOURLESS HOURLESS WINTERING WELL WELLThen Then is little to be said of llourless save that he is wintering splendidly He has not wheezed since October and he grows broader and thicker and taller every day He will be close to a slxteen band horse before midsummer and lie will weigh more than 1100 pounds in racing condition Ami this will be his last season of racing Mr Helmont has been anxious to have him at service at his Nursery Stud in Kentucky ever since the French son of Negofol and Hourglass convinced him at Laurel that In was possibly as good a horse as Tracery Mr Helmonts idea of the eminent fitness of Hour less for stud service was conveyed in a letter he wrote last fall He said I notice in nil the comments on llourless breeding that nothing is said of the meaning of Hautesses breeding on the dams side The principal reason I believe why they bid so high on Hautesse at the McCalmont sale was be ¬ cause she was from the great Hawthorne family tracing directly back to Lady Alice Hawthorne You know this family is one of the most nrized on the Hritisb turf The representative of this line my father had in the stud was Lady Mentmore by King Tom from which Glory and Glorifier and other winners came Did I also mention to you that both have fifteensixteenth of Eclipse blood onesix ¬ teenth of Herod and none of Matchem English breeders strive for a predominance of Eclipse blood bloodLucullite Lucullite is furnishing into a splendid threeyear old He stands nearly if not quite sixteen hands on his plates and he is fast losing the legginess to which some exacting critics objected last year Drastic a son of Hastings OlVmpia is a great grandson iu the female line of Ortegal the dam of Octagon He also is a robust type with a quick turn of speed and appealing action He is however a Hastings and he has a bit of the un ¬ certain Hastings temper Nevertheless Iliidreth believes the colt is possessed of great speed and will be disappointed if lie does not bold his own with the topnotchers topnotchersOne One of the undeveloped threeyearolds of which Hildrcth expects something is Princeps a brother of Stromboli ami a halfbrother of Priscillian A betterlooker in that he is bigger of bone and more robust and a much better underpinned horse than either of his fast relatives Princeps was highly thought of last spring Hut be wirs troubled throughout the year with a gastric disorder like Strombolis and Hildreth did not make a serious effort to find out how fast lie could run or how far he could stay Hildreth will go easy with Princeps in the spring so as not to aggravate his stomach trouble and he believes that before autumn he will show in Strombolis brother a threeyearold of parts Princeps lias not been gelded as Strom ¬ boli and Priscillian were Mr Helmont hopes that he may qualify for stud service serviceThere There are a couple of Trap Uoek colts a chestnut dam Pacadillo called Pecksniff and a bay dam Souveraine called Sir Oracle and two sons of Tra ¬ cery a bay dam Hallot Hred she a daughter of Meddler Heldame called Histouri and a brown dam Amicitia called Alibi of which Hildreth has not despaired They could run in spots last year and he considers them worth keeping The sons of Tracery are a bit leggy in which respect they take after their brilliant sire but they have redeeming points English trainers like to see a lot of daylight under their horses The fact that they did not mature quickly probably means noth ¬ ing Tracery was four years old l efore he reached the top of his form Masda and Jyntee both daugh ¬ ter of Fair Play were the fastest twoyearohl fillies that bore the Helmont silks last year and they are wintering satisfactorily satisfactorilyNone None of the nineteen twoyearolds in Hildreths barn has been misused Mr Helmont has abandoned the practice of gelding colts He believes that it is the duty of all American breeders of thorough ¬ breds to preserve their stallions for the indis ¬ pensable service of siring military horses From iOOO to 10000 thoroughbred stallions must be as ¬ signed to this work in the next few years if the armies of the United States are to be properly equipped with horseflesh hereafter and Mr Hel ¬ mont who has already presented Henry of Navarre Octagon Footprint Helfry Acstibuie Top Hat and Defendum to the government intends to breed and develop his share in the future Moreover stallions that go into the remount service from the Nursery Stud will not cost the government any ¬ thing either They will be gifts giftsCATSPAW CATSPAW FASTEST OF THE JUVENILES JUVENILESThe The Helmont youngsters iu Hildreths barn are sons and daughters of the American stallions Fair Play Trap Itock Flint Rock and AAratervale and the Hritish stallions Marajax Lemberg and DuUe Michael And although the homebred youngsters generally are the most prepossessing the fastest on last falls trials is Catspaw a chestnut colt of goodly proportions by Lemberg Cattish This fel ¬ low stepped a quarter in 3 He is going to be easy to train if Hildreth is not mistaken and lie is pretty sure to make his debut at Helmont Park lie is in the Juvenile also the Keene Memorial a race Mr Helmont won in 191i witli Honriess and last year with Lucullite with Mad Hatter a brown son of Fair Play Madcap Tippler a bay son of AVatervale Tiptoe Fair and Square a chestnut son of Fair Play Felicity and Title a chestnut son of Trap Itock Toucan ToucanThese These Juvenile and Keene Memorial candidates probably will prove the best of the Helmont two yearolds of 1U18 Tippler a wellturned bay may show the chairman of the Jockey Club that he has made a mistake in slighting AYatervale which has had scant consideration at the Nursery Sttid be ¬ cause o a ringbone Tipplers legs are as clean as steel ramrods and be could fly when Hildreth asked him to show a bit of speed last fall He turned his trial quarter iu L3 and bis action was captivating captivatingTitle Title hasnt the stature of Lucullite but he is close coupled muscular and well developed u youngster that may come to hand early His trial quarter was turned in 18h Mad Hatter is the bestlooking son of Fair Play that has come up from Kentucky since the illstarred Norse Kings time He is a colt of unusual bone bulk and splendid carriage he is clean legged and smooth gaited AVhen Hildreth asked him fj run in Octo ¬ ber be showed a quarter in ISSf with his head swinging He did not seem to be half trying Fair and Square which looks a bit like his daddy dill not prove to be so fast The best he could do was a quarter in 21 Iliidreth named him for the early stakes at Helmont Park because he believes the youngster will improve There is a half sister of Stromboli Iriscillian and Princeps in the stable called Signpost which claims Trap Hock for sire and a halfbrother of Hawthorn and Thorn hill called Triumphant This one was bred in France where Flint Hock bis sire a son of Hock Sand and a Dominion Handicap winner himself is standing
