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OLD BENNING TRACK AT WASHINGTON LIVELIEST TRAINING GROUND OF THOROUGHBREDS IN THE COUNTRY Washington I C March 10 Old Benning track in spite of its dilapidated stables Its rotting fences its weedgrown steeplechase course ami pathetic ashheaps the last reminders of the dist astrous fire of three autumns back in which 100000 worth of horses and a few of their hope ¬ less keepers were burned to death is the liveliest training place for thoroughbreds in the United States these pleasant March days There are upward of 300 horses at and about Benning track trackIt It appears much as though Albert Simons will have the most forward band of twoyearolds at Howie and Havre de Grace Simons is training twenty odd of the second string youngsters of the stable of Harry Payne Whitney and he has been ictive all winter Kven when the mercury was down in the neighborhood of zero Simons managed to get in some work He has moreover one youngster in his establishment a half sister of Buskin claiming Broomstick for her sire that has twice covered quarters in better than 23 lie has other precocious ones that have worked almost equally fast and lie has sold for oUOO to 1 T Tim merman a young Washington sportsman another son of Broomstick that did some remarkably fast work last fall Simons has always been exception ¬ ally skUlful at getting his twoyearolds ready early When lie wintered his division of the Whit ¬ ney string at Norfolk at the Jamestown Jockey Club track he always had the strongest juvenile string that raced at the Maryland tracks and last spring it will be recalled he had tough little Ilpplty Witehet ready to win the first race of the opening day of the Bowie meeting So far Simons has no horse of mature age to train for the im lortant handicaps at Havre de trace or for the Iimlico Spring Handicap a ij COO race this year which he won last year with the brilliant Iennant Hut Bellringer Tumbler Hickety and one of two ither sterling performers of the older division of the Whitney string which are wintering at Brook lale Farm in New Jersey under the eye of James Howe may be sent on to him In the course of the nest ten days or two weeks weeksThe The second most forward band of twoyearolds it Benning perhaps are in the stable of William Garth and they are owned jointly by William Garth ind his son Lewis There are no twoyearolds in the establishment Mr Garth is training for Captain I M Parr IT S A and J S Cosdcii of Haiti more Captain Iarr who does the general managing jf the 1arrCosden outfit was too busy working for Inele Sam throughout last year to attend the yearling sales Cosden however wants twoyear olds and he lias instructed Garth to look out for some someGARTHS GARTHS HOMEBRED TWOYEAROLDS TWOYEAROLDSGarths Garths own most promising twoyearolds are homebred sons and daughters of the Ien Brush stallion Theo Cook which the elder Garth bought for a song a few years back and established at lis Albemiirle County Stud which is in Virginia near Charlottesville One of Garths fast Theo Cook yearlings is Agnes Cook dam Top Hock This miss turned a quarter in U3 last fall and she is ready to go on now She is a trifle small perhaps but short backed muscular broad across the loins and furnished behind like a quarter horse Another fast Theo Cook filly in the barn is a chestnut daughter of Glad Tidings This one is bigger all over than Agnes Ccok and she too could run last fall Garths most forward Theo Cook co It is Ksiiiiimaux a rich bay dam Northern Girl she a daughter of Yankee Korke This fellow is ibout in and a strongly made colt particularly as to Ids quarters and loins He galloived a quarter in ISVh when he was broken at Benning last fall and lie is ready to go on Then there is a black or brown colt dam Marian Gay and a bay colt lam Eddis This last one is called April Fool He i did not work as swiftly when Garth broke him in the autumn as did Esquimaux but he Is a rangier and better looking colt and it would surprise no one who has watched his development if he stayed farther than any other youngster in the barn Garth lias turned down offers of 2500 apiece for Esqui ¬ maux and April Fool FoolIn In the light of the recent stud success of Broom stlck himself and of those other Hen Urush stal ¬ lions Von Tromp Delhi and Sweeper II also of the Hroomstick stallions Sweep Whisk Broom II etc Garth is making no mistake in taking a chance with Theo Cook Theo Cook was i fast son of Hen Brush Climax she by Domino dam a Bend Or mare Before he suffered an attack of pneumonia which left him thickwinded Theo Cook which raced under the silks of Amos Turney defeated Jack Atkin at threequarters of a mile in 111 and a fraction He is a horse of impressive phy ¬ sique and ample bone and he sires youngsters of size and substance There arc seven yearlings by him at the Garth farm and four foals with four ¬ teen mares still due to foal to him The yearlings are bigger and better grown youngsters than the twoyearolds were last spring Hatins folks will watch the development of these Theo Cook two yearolds with keen interest It begins to look as though the grandsons and great grandsons of Com muiulo and the sons and grandsons of Ben Brush are the only stallions of what we are pleased to call American stock capable of holding their own with the stallions brought from Great Britain and France in the last lour or five years yearsThe The dder flat runners of the Garth stable and these are owned by Captain Iarr and Mr Cosden are Crimper The Belgian Nebraska Itoyal Arch Discoverer Dr Muck Bravado Coral and Man o the Hour Discoverer may not race this year He was injured the other day in a railroad accident and Garth will have all he can do to save him Tiie other horses are in splendid condition full fleshed but not overheavy strongly muscled and ready to go on They will be going miles and greater distances lie fere the last week of March MarchGarth Garth believes that he holds a strong hand for the Haiford and Philadelphia Handicaps at Havre de Grace the Iimlico Spring Handicap at Iimlico and the 1reakness at 1imlieo Crimper weighs from liiO to LOO pounds more than he did at any time last year and is eating his head off He lias not shown himself to IJB as good a horse as Iarr and Cosden hoped lie might become when they paid li00 for him at Mrs Herman B Uuryeas sale a year ago last spring but his limitations are known now and the handicappers probably will not ask as much of him as they did last year and tin year before Nebraska which was injured last fall when he seemed to be rounding into particularly good condition has grown and The Belgian is as big as a freight car carMan Man o the Hour a son of Negofol La Douma for which Captain Iarr paid r 000 at the Johnson Hillings sale and Bravado an Americanbred son of Star Shoot Bold Girl are the threeyearolds Garth will point for the 1reakness Man o the Hour a big awkward colt last year did too much bucking to be of great use but he is over all that now and is maturing into as fine a looking three yearold as a man would wish to see He is smooth of action and graceful of carriage uniformly muscled and as sound as a bell of brass brassOutside Outside of the stable of John Lumsdon of Ot ¬ tawa which boasts of promising threeyearold colts in Mancha and K of 1C the most formidable Ireak ness possibilities at Itenning perhaps are in the stables of Samuel Itoss and J S Tyree both of Washington WashingtonOn On last years form The Porter a sou of Sweep Ballet Girl i the numrpromlSing of ilitriross candidates for the 1reakness The Porter which did not appear at the post until late in the year won three out of the six races in which he started He ran exceptionally well under 117 pounds in the Walden at IMnilico bringing up tiiird to AVar Cloiid and Tippity Witehet and a little later he whipped a field of allaged horses at one mile He is a bit short necked but he is lengthy strongbacked and close to the ground and his action is smooth smoothCOLONEL COLONEL CLUFF IN THE PREAKNESS PREAKNESSColonel Colonel Cluff is Itoss other Preakness hope He is an Knglish son of Galloping Simon which began the racing season of 1917 in the stable of Bernard M Baruch Mr Banieh sold Colonel Cluff late in the summer because his duties at Washington in connection with the war prevented his taking an active part in racing Colonel Cuff is something of an unknown on which trainer Burch waited He did not earn his first brackets until the horses got to Bowie late in November He has grown into a powerful sixteen hands horse Of the British type i trifle leggy but rangy and muscular and he is galloping as forwardly as any horse at Benning BenningTyrccs Tyrccs Prcaknosn hope is Sweep lp II an ¬ other son of Sweep which was laid up the better part of last year with a lame shoulder But when Sweep tp II came to himself at Bowie in the hit autumn he made a show of The Porter and some other smart twoyearolds in a race of six and a half furlongs Sweep lp II is the handsomest threeyearold at Benning He lias more length than The Porter and lie is not deficient in bulk and John Shields his young trainer holds him In high regard regardTiiere Tiiere is no Preakness candidate of promise in the stable Kithard Carman is training at Itcnnin although then are thirty odd horses of various ages in the establishment some the property of the Car mans some the property of Wilfred Viaii of Mon ¬ treal But Mr Carman is training two of the most promising fouryearolds in the country Omar Khayyam and Westy Uogan Moreover these great colts have wintered beautifully and are as sure to train as any horses in the country countryOmar Omar Khayyam docs not appear an ounce heavier than he did when he went into winter quarters in November Nevertheless he has broadened and lengthened a bit Westy Ilogan is the bigger horse of the two twoIf If the plans of Mr Carman do not miscarry he will get a race under the belts of each of thesa horses at Bowie and then take them to Havre de Grace for the Harford and Philadelphia Handicaps all as part of their preparation for the Pimlico Spring Handicap Alrady they are galloping satis ¬ factorily and their muscles are rapidly hardening After they finish in Maryland they will race over the eastern circuit engagements having been made for them in every firstclass race over a considera ¬ ble distance of ground to be run at Belmont Park Jamaica Aqueduct Yciers and Saratoga
