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Latonia Championship Stakes : i First Running of the Big Race and the Young Horses Which Will Measure Strides for the Rich Turf Prize It is common in the history of great races which close far in advance of their running to find that in some years their weighty results are fought out by fields of inferior race horses. The Epsom Derby, the St. Leger, the S50,000 Sandown Eclipse Stakes and the 50 000 Jockey Club Stakes all afford English instances. The American Derby won by Uncle Bob J at Washington Park was contested by such a scaly band that even Dave Waldos runt Jed t was deemed to have a right good chance. The Lawrence Realization has in some years J dwindled away to two or three starters, and even the Belmont Stakes has been visited by the j same bad luck. ! So it is not without precedent that the first running of the Latonia Championship Stakes 1 should prove disappointing in some of its phases. Starting out with 471 nominations of the t best bred youngsters of England and the United States, it was but reasonable to expect that such a nobly framed and richly endowed race would be contested", by a big field of the best three-year-olds of the year. Such is not its portion. The really high-class ones Sir Barton, Purchase and approximately that kind were not in its big entry list. The best of its eli-gibles on paper Eternal, War Pennant and Dunboyne went wrong, as did certain lesser. lights, much to the detriment of the race. It has now come down to a point where Mad Hatter and Stockwell represent the best public form, and the wildest imagination cannot make them out to be anything more than ordinary colts. However, to the eye a field of well matched horses will furnish an inspiring spectacle, -even if no star is included. In fact, that feature will add to the interest and perplexity of ! the race. Another feature is that with the exception of Stockwell no one knows how the present probable starters will stay the distance, or that they have been properly trained to do ! so. Stockwell gave convincing evidence J n-the: TwinL,.City Handicap that the additional, i eighth of the Latonia Championship Stakes would have no terror for him. On the facts of that same race something similar could be said in behalf of the hard luck colt Vulcanite. His third on that occasion would have seemed ample justification for his being started in todays big race. Mad Hatter has not started in a long race, but his ancestry calls ffandr ability to stay, and it may be set down as certain that his astute trainer and owner, Sam Hildreth, would not have sent him west unless assured in his mind on that point. Before the running of the Twin City there was nothing in the line of public racing to show that Stockwell is the stayer he is. So right now there is nothing to show that John O., Sway, Chasseur, Linden or others of the probable contestants will prove able to stay a mile and three-quarters under 122 pounds in good style. But there is also nothing to show they will not. Being thoroughbreds the presumption is that they are naturally endowed with the ability to do so, the real key to their performances in the race resting in their trainers knowing how to prepare a horse for a race over such a distance. In time the Latonia Championship Stakes will be the one great race of the United States for three-year-olds. It is here to stay, and is already closed for 1920 and 1921. In some of its years it will be fought out by real giants of racing, although such is not the case this year. However, it is probably destined to be a bitterly contested struggle as it is, and the young horses which are to furnish royal entertainment for many thousands of applauding spectators are these: Horse. Breeding. Odds. Trainer. Owner. Mad Hatter ...Fair Play Madcap 2-1... S. C. Hildreth.. S. C. Hildreth Stockwell Ballot Janice 3-1... J. S. Hawkins. . J. S. Hawkins Sway .Vulcain Ruby Right 4-1... J. M. Hukill ...J. H." Woodford John 0 Sir John J.ohnsoni-Couniess Wanda . 8-1 . . . R. T. Runnels . 0. Rogers War Spirit ....Vulcain Thfrty-third 20-1 . . ..K. Spence W. V. Thraves Linden Martinet Lady Esther 30-1 ... J. Phillips R. A. Mason Constantine ...The White Knight Perishable 1 00-1 P. Coyne G. J. Long Chasseur Light Brigade Panne 12-1 S. M. Henderson L. Waterbury Of the eight carded starters Constantine is the only maiden, the G. J. Long representative having failed to win a race in his five starts. However, Constantine comes from a family of stayers, and this fact evidently prompted his owner to start him in the big race. In the matter of money earning Stockwell tops trie list with S9,850, Mad Hatter being second with ,729 and Linden third, with ,635. The records of the horses, together with names of the jockeys who will ride them, are as, follows : Horse. . Col. and Sex. Wt. Jockey. Sts. 1st. 2d. 3d. Unp. Amt. . Mad Hatter b. c... 122... L. Fator 14 4 3 2 5 7,729 I . Stockwell ch. c... 122... E Pool 9 4 3 0 2 $ 9,850 I Sway b. g... 122... C. Van Dusen 17 6 5 2 4 6,545 John 0 b. c... 122... L. Lyke 5 3 0 0 2 5,000 War Spirit br. g.. . 122. . .T. Murray 16 3 2 I 10 2,915 Linden b. c... 122... W. Crump.... 40 5 II 6 18 7,635 Constantine b. C...122...G. Molesworth 5 0 10 4 200 Chasseur b. C.I22...C. Robinson 19 2 3 I 13 3,850
