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BEST HORSES OF OLDER DIVISION SIR BARTON, EXTERMINATOR, BILLY KELLY. MAD HATTER, BONIFACE, THE PORTER AND NATURALIST A SUPERIOR GROUP In the racing of 1920 the best horses older than three years were well defined in general estimation and in fact. On the pinnacle of greatness Sir Barton, Billy Kelly, Exterminator, Boniface, Mad Hatter, The Porter and Naturalist wpre a group superior to the othfers, and wonderfully good racers in all essential qualities. Sir Barton was not always kept at his best. The Sir Barton that carried 129 pounds in the Saratoga Hnndicap and ran its mile and a quarter in 2:01 f,, easily defeating Exterminator, Wildair, The Porter and Mad Hatter; he Sir Barton that later on took up 133 pounds and defeated Gnnmn at a mile and three-sixteenths in the Merchants and Citizens Handicap in the new American record time of 1:55 was quite a different animal from the Sir Barton so ignominiously beaten by Man o War at Ken-ilworth and since then by worse race horses. However, horses are ranked by their lxst form, and on that basis Sir Barton was and is the best racer of the year -of his age or older. Just as clearly second best is the sturdy campaigner Exterminator, a true race horse at all distances. Like that other rugged warrior of the track, Billy Kelly, he is n gelding, not faster than the latter, but more distinctly a stayer of thecup horse type. Twice a winner of the Saratoga Cup and as sound as a silver dollar, it may be in reserve for him to make a new record by winning it for the third time in 1921. He is entirely capable of doing the deed. Billy Kelly has either won or been placed in all of his races this year, but his speed is so great that he has been used over shorterdistances than Exterminator. He might stay as far as the latter if trained for it. At any rate, it is a:inaj??,of record that he would have won the Kentucky Derby had Sir Barton proved unequal to his appointed task in that .race last year. Boniface was vastly improved over anything he had shown in previous years and right in the front rank of our handicap horses, while The Porter, Mad Hatter and Naturalist fully maintained their already well-established and high-class reputations. . Gnome was probably fashioned by nature to be a great racer, but infirm legs prevented his going, far in the years campaign. Probably there will be little controversy over the designation of the following as the best fifteen four-year-olds or over: Horse. Col. Sex. A. Breeding. Uaces. 1st. 2d. 3d. "Won. Sir Barton ch. c. 4 Star Shoot Lady Sterling, by Hanover 12 5 2 3 4,491 Exterminator . .ch. g. 5 McGee Fair Empress, by Jim Gore 10 9 3 2 45,255 Billy Kelly b. g. 4 Dick Welles Glena, by Free Knight .12 0 4 2 10,048 Mad Hatter b. c. 4 Fair Play Madcap, by Rock Sand ..19 9 8 4 23,834 Boniface b. h. 5 - TrunsvftlQi?fini-, by, Meddler .25 11 ; -8 3 44,685 Naturalist b, g. 0 .; Rabelais Nature, .by Meddler w 17fl0dfc3JL 8 . 18,008 The Porter b. h. -5 SweeiBalletJjLy. "Alibi -.tsr.v1KhV C:--"TMWr223mIcTa7y "Hastings .... 5 -4 "0 0 4,417 Audacious ch. c. 4 Star Shoot Ijdld Girl, by Ogden 20 4 3 7 9,252 Cirrus b. c. 4 Tracery Mbrnlngsldc; by Meddler .14 0 5 0 25,190 Pif Jr blk. g. 8. Waterboy Anna Bain, by Kingston 5 2 0 0 8,530 Irish Kiss b. g. 5 Orplment-Soligenn, by Soliman 18 S 2 5 24,197 Minto II b. g. C Sundridge Miss Ronald, by Bay Ronald 20 7 5 4 27,395 Milkmaid b. f. 4 Peep oDay Nell Olin, by Wagner 10 0 0 3 10,400
