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ENGLISH THREE -YEAR -OLDS None Standing Out Alone and Question of Supremacy as Unsettled as Last Year. This years classic races leave us with the same feelings of uncertainty as in 1920. Then Tetratema having won the Guineas and failed in the Derby through lack of stamina, it was useless to start him for the St. Leger and we have to go back to 1918 before finding in Gainsborough a triple-crowned hero. The current season showed us Craig an Eran in a very different light, after a couple of indifferent races as a two-year-old, for the colt had improved enough to beat his stable companion Lemo-nora comfortably in the first of the classics. This success, so smoothly gained, was suggestive of greater things and the Derby and St. Leger seemed well within his grasp, but he failed in the Blue Riband, and many good judges wrote him down as unlucky, though I shall always believe that Humorist beat Lord Astors colt on his merits that day. Be that as it may, it was quite a different Craig an Eran we saw at Sandown on Eclipse day, and, although he may not have had much to beat, he did It in the style of a really good horse. The way he climbed the stiff gradient after his fine effort in the Derby seemed to stamp him as a true stayer. It has been argued, and always will be argued, that Lemonora is the better stayer, but this is not in accordance with fact, though unfortunately this question can now never be decided in public, as the Lemberg colt goes to the stud next season. However, the facts as they stand are that a bare victory for Craig an Eran over Lemonora in the Guineas was considerably improved upon over a longer Derby course, which seemed to pave the way for a further triumph at Doncaster, but, just as Buchan failed in 1919, so, too, did Craig an Eran last week. The strange part of the story is that, with a few notable exceptions, everyone seems agreed that Lord Astors colt is a rank non-stayer, whilst before the race these self-same critics, rated him a certainty because of his superior lasting powers. It is well not to be prejudiced, but surely this colt, with such good performances to his credit, mut be allowed another chance before he is condemned as a- failure. I for one shall: look -forward to his career with, considerable confidence, and just as Buchan subsequently proved that his defeat by Keysoe was an utter fluke, it will not surprise me to find Craig an Eran almost as far in front of Polemarch next season. The latter, being a late foal, is, I realize, capable of great improvement but, rightly or wrongly, I shall always look upon his St. Leger victory as somewhat fluky, for, leaving out Craig an Eran for the moment, Franklin would, I think, have beaten him but for coming away from the rails. To settle the vexed question we must wait until next season, but meanwhile I hold to the opinion that Lord Astors colt lost the last classic for reasons other than lack of stamina. The fillies do not seem to be of much account, with the exception of Love in Idleness, but what an exception she provides! She has improved immensely since the early part of the year, and her only lapse this season was when most unluckily beaten at Ascot. Had Mr. Watsons beautiful filly been in the St. Leger she would have received considerable support, but perhaps one day we may find her measuring strides with the best of the colts, which would be a treat indeed. "Vigilant," in London Sportsman.
