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I CUDGEL IS ACCLAIMED THE CHAMPION Great Race in Brooklyn Handicap Stamps Him as Best Horse of Year, Say Turfmen. Xew York. June 27. — Since Cudgels victory in the Brooklyn Handicap Monday, eastern horsemen are practically unanimous in giving the great son of Rr«Minstick — Eugenia Durch recognition as the champion of the 191S racing season. In view of the fact that Cndgel carried an impost of 129 pounds and defeated a band of the best horses in training, the opinion is freely advanced that, had conditions liocn favorable, he probably would have won every race he has started in since the racing season oiM-ncd. It is always gratifying to the spectator and horseman alike to see a really good horse mow down his opponents in the manner in which Cudgel accomplished the feat in the Brooklyn and a majority of the big crowd left the track firm in the belief that only excessive weight or bad racing luck will be responsible for his defeat in any race in which he is entered. Cudgels victory and his pronounced resolution made the majority overlook the work of another horse in the race — Roanier. This seven-year-old son of Knight Errant — Rose Tree II. deserves more than ordinary mention. It was he who made the pace all the way and it was such a sizzling one that those which followed him liegan to fag long before a mile had been covered. It was not until the last sixteenth that he gave up the ghost to his youngei opponent Cudgel. It takes a good horse to step to the front in such good company, kill off opposition, and then have something left to finish with a horse like Cudgel. MUCH CREDIT DUE TO B0AMES. All this Roamer did and much credit is due him. Even the sprinter Westy I log an could not hold Roamer in the early running, though he tried mighty hard to race along with Mr. Millers gelding. This in itself is an achievement for Roamer. Then he was -tackled by Borrow and Hollister and at the close, by ieorge Smith, but none of them had any business with the stout little gelding. The only horse that had an excuse to offer was George Smith. He was not well ridden and met with trouble before they had gone an eighth. Hud he been ridden by one of the more fashionable riders, he would surely have been troublesome. Some are of the belief that he has roguisli ideas and becomes stubborn at times. This may have been the cause of his dropping so far out of the running in the early racing. But he was a good horse at the close, though his advancing to third position was not due as much to his sjieed as to his overtaking a group of tired horses. Yet with a better rider, it is possible he would have been fighting out the finish with both Koamer and Cudgel. Old Borrow did well for a ten-year-old horse. But like all old horses, he needs a race or two to put him right on edge. There is every reason to believe he will improve as the meeting progresses and be a decided factor in some of the later handicaps. The Brooklyn this year was a great test for horses, as the field was made up of a mixed collection as regards age and sex. The winner. Cudgel, is a four-year-old colt, while Roamer is a seven-year-old gelding. Doth Roamer and Borrow ran excellent races, considering their age. They beat others more youthful and the remark was made among horsemen that lioth are typical geldings, adding to the belief that uusexed horses are more durable than the majority of racers.
