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UNSTINTING PRAISE FOR SIR BARTON J. W. McClelland Pays Glowing Tribute to Prowess of Commander Ross Great Colt. .7. W. McClelland, owner of Eternal and other goad horses, recently paid a glowing tribute to the prowess of Sir Barton, the leading three-year-old of the year. Mr. McClelland said: "Theres the best three-year-old Ive ever seen in my thirty years on the turf, and Ive seen some great horses. What lie has done in public should be sufficient substantiation for my statement, but my opinion is further bolstered by what Ive seen liim do in the morning during Ills trials. Ive never seen but one other horse that required the amount of steady, grueling work that Sir Barton lias, and that horse was Roamer. "Commander Ross horse whipped Eternal worse than I thought anyone in the world could, for Eterual had shown me that he was a really great horse in his early three-year-old form, and that was after lie had beaten Billy Kelly in the memorable match at Laurel. WJien my horse was training to meet Sir Barton I attempted to devote as much time to watching his trials as I did Eternal, and I discovered then just what a powerful work horse lie was. Day in and day out lie worked and seemed to thrive on it, until just before Purchase beat liim at Aqueduct In the summer. "He came back after his short rest, much to my surprise, a better horse than he ever had been, and personally I think it was just as well for Purchases reputation that they never met again, for Sir Barton would have trimmed him sure. The line through Eternal was enough to convince me of that. A glutton for work and a lion heart in performance, a horse which required as much work 5n a week as Henry of Navarre, some champion liimself, required in a month, lie stood up under it all from the late fall of 191S until his last race at Pimlico, when he retired for the season. It was no disgrace for Eternal to have been beaten hy u horse which has proved himself every inch a champion."
