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LUCK AN IMPORTANT ITEM IN RACING Whenever the Old Jinx Attaches Itself to a Stable Disaster Is Sure to Follow New York July 24 It is possible as a great many ixople insist that there is no such thing as luck but mention the subject around a race track and sufficient proof will be immediately forthcom ¬ ing to convince the most skeptical Luck is the guiding star of owners trainers jockeys nntl othorsi identified with the turf and in a large measure it extends to patrons of the sport sportIf If a stable meets with a scries of reverses even though its representatives are being beaten by bet ¬ ter horses the fault Is attributable o a jinx that has attached itself to the barn The same line of reckoning applies to riders and to the speculator who does not meet the cashier after an event is decided Rut it is this element of luck or chance or whatever you may care to call it that makes the sport so fascinating in all its branches And success or failure no matter what the cause may be comes under the one head headThe The element of chance is on tho job the year round and at no time Is it more active than during the winter months when owners and trainers are laying their plans for a coming campaign Then is when it gets in its most telling strokes Stables that have gone into winter quarters with a formid ¬ able string of racers suddenly find the jinx in their midst and their house pf blocks goes tumbling down downThe The late William C Whitney once went into win ¬ ter quarters with a string of racers valued at 250000 The jinx took up quarters in the Whit ¬ ney stable and when the campaign opened the follow ¬ ing spring there wasnt a horse in the barn capable of winning a race raceA A K Macomber of California Is another promi ¬ nent turfman who has soen the evil eye Though he has spent largo sums of money to secure the best horses obtainable lie has not won many of the important turf fixtures although he finished nt the top of tho winning owners last year He has tried three times to win the Kentucky Derby without success though upon each occasion his entry was considered the best horse in the race This year there appears little doubt but his ambitions would have been realized if a heavy track had not ruined the chances of War Cloud CloudMaj Maj August Relmont had two horses last year in Hourless and Lucullite that promised great thjngs Hourless broke down last spring before he could be raced and Lucullite has gone amiss several times when about ready for a campaign Wilfrid Vlnn with two horses like Omar Khayyam and Westy Hogan has barely seen his colors in front this year Later on they may redeem themselves but the fact remains that all sorts of things have happened to them which could be attributed to the jinx jinxSUN SUN BRIAR AND PAPP VICTIMS VICTIMSWillis Willis Shnri e Kilmer who owns the star two yearold of last year Sun Briar has not won a race with him so far as a threeyearold and Congress ¬ man George W Loft owner of Papp has but two or three races to the credit of his stable and Pnpp is yet to be heard from George D Widencr had a promising colt in Lanius Ho had to bo turned out after winning one RICO an overnight handicap handicapJames James Rutlcr who brought up thirtythree horses for spring training has reduced his string to about a dozen and there are slim prospects of their pay ¬ ing stable expenses this year Harry Payne Whit ¬ ney has had two or three good horses this year but according to custom he has sold some of them one of which Flags has proved to be one of the best sprinters of the year Ho has retained the two yearold Blue Laddie which will carry his colors in later stakes But Mr Whitneys stable has been iii bad luck for the past two years since the days of Regret Pennant and Whisk Rroom II His only handicap horse of note at tho present time is Bor ¬ row a tenyearold gelding and Jolireu which has won several stakes but was defeated easily by both War Cloud and Jack Hare Jr in the Dwyer Stakes which Indicates his future is not so bright in the coming events It may be however that Jolireu will come around to his early form when he showed him ¬ self to be the equal if not the superior of War Cloud CloudLuck Luck has figured in the campaign of other stables during the present senson but in different form As an instance the horses trained by William Karrick can be cited Ho has the wonderful fillies Elfin Queen and Terentia and the colt Sweep On in his barn All three of them have proved them ¬ selves capable of holding their own in any kind of company Then there is the stable of Commander J K L Ross owner of Cudgel unquestionably the best horse shown this year and a half dozen others including Priscilla Mullens Damrosch and several of the cheaper variety which have more than paid their expenses expensesSo So far the stable of John Sanford has not been prominent though it boasts a string of more than twenty horses Mr Snnford won the Excelsior Han ¬ dicap with Oeorge Smith but his twoyearolds have not nearly come up to expectations The Sanford colors however may be seen to better advantage later when Tippity Witchet and some of his younger horses arc started Jack Hare Jr has been the mainstay of tho horses belonging to Col W E Applegate Tho Marathon colt has had only one notable reverse That was iif the Dwyer Stakes It was probably lucky for Jack Hare Jr though that the Preakness was split and that Papp Sun Briar Lanius and Lucullitc went amiss That is what turfmen call the luck of the sport and it must be admitted that their arguments are more or less convincing
