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EASTERNERS MAKE IDOL OF L LYKE For the first time in many years racing followers are making an idol of u jockey Larry Lyke is his t tLarry name In the socalled halcyon days of the sport of kings men bet on jockeys as much as on horses Pitts ¬ burgh Phil but almost exclusively uii the mounts that Willie Shaw rode Fred Taral Spencer liijrns Redfern Lester and Arthur Reiff Joe Notter and Herman Radtke and Walter Miller liatl followers who bet on every horse they threw a leg over overLarry Larry Lyke is the first of the presentjday riders to attain anything like the following of the riders of yesterday There are any number of people betting on Lyke now regardless of his mount mountLast Last Saturday at Empire City Lyke rode four winners His other two mounts finished second AVhich is a pretty fair average for a bettor to play to toLyke Lyke is generally regarded as one of the greatest riders in the country His prestige is enhanced by the fact that Johnny Loftus is on the ground groundLoftus Loftus until his runin with his employer A K Macomber some time ago was generally rated as Lykes superior But Johnny is not riding now and there is little prospect apparently of his mysterious suspension being lifted liftedThere There are not many good boys tiding oday AVhich makes the superiority of riders like Loftus and Lyke the more apparent Frank Robinson who rides for Harry Payne AVhituey and Joe Buxton who has succeeded Loftus as pilot of the Macomber string are the best of the others othersThe The rarest thing in riders is the boy who can suc ¬ cessfully pilot twoyearolds In this phase of horsemanship Frank Robinson seems to be a bit be ¬ yond even Loftus and Lyke It is a hard thing to get a baby racer off well in a large field They shy at the barrier and run all over the trick when they do get away unless care ¬ fully and skillfully handled handledLyke Lyke is the allaround rider of the hour He is a youngster just turned twenty It is to be hoped that his success does not turn his head as it has those of so many great riders who have gone before him New York Mail
