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GREAT MONEY WINNERS i i — « Deductions from Figures in The American Racing Manual. i 1 . m How the Totals Compare and What They Show as to Individuals. ♦ ■- BY SAI.VATOn. T have- no envy fur the racial ni:m who cannot find Material for many ■■ nbeerbed and plcaaant bear in tin- now American Rac in tr Manual. Within ita 999-edd pages what a wealth of information and interest arc packed! All of which slips into ones pocket and ran Itc pulled out almost anywhere. i iiher ill stray moment* or tieneath the evening lamp, wlien with slip]iers and pipe a session of olid comfort is in view. Somewhere 1 have, filed ,u.iy. the first issue of this invaluable compend of inrf lore the initial "American Sprting Manual." ;i- it was then called, and in comparison with the present work a "small and early" indeed. For the original idea of the Manual and its gradual de-olopment to its present status we have Racing Form to thank. 1ersonall.v I find it indispensable. There are certain sections of the Manual to which each of its readers will involuntarily turn oftcnest. is each individuals taste and fancy dictate. For my part I find my attraction oftenest excited by I ha I series of tables which miens upon pace MM of the new work, entitled "Great Money Winning llor-es of America. Fngland and Australia." It lias a thousand different angles of interest and allure for me. 1 find it. in fact, of inexhaustible fas-•inalion — and each issue of the Manual, after I have had it at hand for a while, has a habit of opening and staying open at this particular Mat. A whole book — and a big one. .very page packed with interest could easily be written around any one of these tables. Take, for instance. Mr. Y . S. V.shurgh. the hum graceful and •ompetciit of all writers for the American racing press, with whose work I have been familiar ever since he became of note on the old Spirit of the Times somewhere nroaad IMS what an absorbing van he could turn out devoted to his petfaaal reminiscences of the various horses in the list of American big winners! There are few of them worth mention I hat lie has not seen perform, and of most of them he has an intimate knowledge. It is a real loss to l.istoiy and to story that he should not lake up something of this kind. What a Heat such a book would be! Then a companion volume about the Fnglish horses that. too. would be another one. and perhaps even a greater still. For there is a certain degree of picliiresi|ueness. a rickMM an 1 laciness of flavor, aboat Knglisli racing that i ur ■ wn lacks. The play of color is richer, the Baiae • n srene more attractive and varied, the human personalities appearing in the drama more sharply differentiated ami ■teteJMM*. AMERICAN VS. ENGLISH WINNERS. As a good American I must go on record as believing hat the beet American hoi-sos have been and arc just as goad as the beat Fnglish. Iatriotism compels lhis--biit as the ipiestiou can never be seized except academically, debate of it is fruitless, lint in comparatively studying the two tables alluded to. I have been struck by one thing namely, the immense amount of Brack that the American horses have accomplished in contrast to the Fnglish. Take, for instance, the ten leading BOfllil of ■■acli hit. Mere are their c ntra-teil records in eol.densed feim: AMF.KICAN. | lone Kaci s. Won. Amt. Domino » 1! |1«3,550 Svsonbv U 11 184,498 loin. ■•" 1" 1* .M2 ltallot ST M 154,34,-j Kingston 138 80 13S.917 Hanover •"•! :;j 118.872 Itamiuei 198 •- 118,535 .Mis. Woodford -IS :iT 118.270 Feter Pa i W 1" U«,5*U iMceland 199 70 llLoil ENGLISH. Bora* Races. W.ai Amt ],in..| ,ss 12 11 80,675 l« -T:s|- Donovan -1 l; rk S.md 21 IT -■"" ls Hayarde -•• — 222."J»1 » " I rg -""• W -":!""- Kceptre -•"• Flying lov 11 » :»■ ••••. Iihiv Folly 24 -J lv-M" Ilinc- Palatine 21 11 IM.- ••" A.Mshire W ll 1 ..»...l ■:» Totalizing these two sets of winners we find that the ten morie.in horses have had la race litJ times m.d win :tr.s dillcieni races | der lo rank when- the do; whereas the ten English horses have had lo race but 199 limes and win but 151 different races lo attain similar positions. Moreover, the ■row amount w n by the ten Ann-noun horses is bin si 140.880: whereas the lea English ones have w.ai a iraaa latal of -299.418. la other words, the American horse, have averaged In winning- but 1144,088, as against an Fnglish BTCtase "f 28,941. COMPARATIVE FIGURES OF RACING. The i ial af it all ia, of eoarae, that Fnglish slakes aad purses are larger than American, but aside from this obvious fact there are other features worth meatioa. The showings made by Sysoni.y and Colin, who rank second and third in the American table, junl which each raced but fifteen times, all told, indicate that it is not a auitter of necessity for an Aim riean horse to start, on the average, alttj Ion tunes and I he Fnglish but tW*atj Of l!»..i lo be more exact I to win a place an g I he ten leading iuolie. earners No the real moral of the two tables is the fact that beret for hots.- tin- Bag-lish winners have shewn more "lass" than the American. The percentage of vidories is muci higher in, won 13] races in 1!»! starts, whereas the Americans won bin BM out of t 42. taking the twn lisis. as ap| oarlii| in the Manual, in their entirety, we f iu J that there are 1-5 difft-r- cut American horses, each of which has won 9,082 or more: and i:C different Fnglish horses that have each won 36.347 or more. It will therefore be seen that, taken "by and lurge." there is Utile difference in the two countries so far as poeeibUi lies of big winnings go. itut when we aaalyae tlie Bomber of starts made here and abroad, we lint differences as vast throughout as those indicaled in the analysis of ihe ten leaders above ipioteil. There ire no fewer than twenty -three of tlie big American winners that have started over 108 times each; while there is no single Fnglish winner that has ever stalled e Ihan fifty-three times. In fact, of the entire 183 FiiLlish horses but seventeen ever raced to exceed twenty-five times, while of the 123 American horses but thirty -all raced less than twenty live times. Yet on dissecting the American list we ascertain the significant fact ihat sixteen different bar sea have gained places in it that started fifteen tiioes or less, while six raced less than ten times. Weighing all these "facta and figures." tlie con-olusinti seems irresisiible that the best Fnglish horses, on the average, have displayed higher rmaa i. -.. greater abilin to win coiisislently than have the American. This, however, does not necessarily mean thai the American horses have been in I ri u sieally inferior. For my own part I believe much of it to be due to the inability of the average American owner and trainer to "wait and win.j liven a good lerse. the penchant for "sweating him for the brass" whenever opportunity offers is too I I widespread: and la this way many a big win is frittered uwuy In making a small one.
