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J J | j i i ! ! i I i I I I I j i I . ! j i I I . I ; j I r FEW PRESENT DAY STAYERSl1 Short Distance Sprinters Are Most Favored Performers. a No Horses of Staying Powers Comparable With Those of Past Years, Declares Critic. a BT SALYATOR. One of the oldest and one of the soundest of raciBC maxims is that which tells us that "Horses of different eras cannot be compared." Yet many tut linen persist in indulging in this indoor pastime. There are better things m do on the greensward. with the aaaaaera ay, aad calculate to an eyelash just how far the tack of today could beat those of tie early days, with the exception that eyelashes leldoai figure iii the a U tilat ion. Per as a rule these speed connoisseurs :i i e agreeil Unit the crack of today could beat Luke Blackburn a block, make a show of Hindoo, disgrace Longfellow and have Lexington somewhere ovtt on the BackBtretCk. I he eal diflieulty is that for so many of oor present da v cracks there isnt any kackatretek. 1liey prefer only one Btretck, and that jn~t as short as possible If on make ihe distance short e-iongh. hey caa lueak almosl ;iti -m | of record. Some of llieiu. as a frienil of mine is wont to expreaa it. i an cart] theii world wnnderlul speeii "Jut a breath. " otinis ■ , keey it af far two breatka. Still Others. With real class and courage, caa, on oi oasion. artaally get sis fnrtoay*. While, ■ ted alest everj eare ia a while. i« a aayathatae. one that o.m run aa aad aa until Cue aratchea raa down -■■methinLV like I whole Mile, Of perhaps even fart her I han I ha I ! GREAT STAYEES OF PAST YEARS. What these n.. Me s-o;.,is •rule have aue la Lake] Rlackbara, Lrxiactea A I ".. the sensitive sou! ahwlilera to contemplate as i- is set forth by the n .i les to whom i have referred Harrowiag visions ■ d Lake Bbtckbara dytatg ef exhaaetiea treat the effort to keep no with theai and Lexington lying over on the hackatretch with a brokea back, due to his vain eadeavers, sear themselves late Ike Ikearera taa Btaatic imaginations and thej tea rf all; [implore Ihe eaeed speaders to hare atercy How-lever, the slaughter smii coattaaee, ami. it is to be supposed, alwa.vs Brill, Balvater ami Ten Broetk. ii-ni ami Harry Baaaetf, have beea batchered to make miee thaa aae holiday far the wederalata; vi :. and many times in the fatare will they be again mercilesslj dragged from Ihe BTeaa arith not eren the i g- ef Iheir reputations left. When ymi come ;■• think of it. tareald he lad I Itassing atraaate if. after :iii ihal !c.s i n aaael to "improve the breed of boraes," it had aot borne, ■ r nit, Beldca ami respleadeat, otherwise ihaa roaa* menially. Think of ihe aeble el Torts ihal atretch i a . be way iioni "the Bat" to Tijaaaa aad ciif tea I j to i ha grin Kalis aad tell us ant ia moarafaJ turn- hers thai n« a resell thereof ibe modera thorough bred r aaael inns tin aratek iato samttbereeas aad make the boasted champions whoee portraits, rare-I fully engrave. I en st.-el by ante he "in artistB, lo.i timers revereatially preserve, look like liy.arils. ■s.;.!; we put hack the check of progreaa and say! liiaaiea to retraareaaloa? Perish the thought: MODERN DISTANCE FIVE-EIGHTHS. The ether dry a onsnai reader of my accaaioaal Ireaaarki ia DaUy Raciag ParBB sent me a clippiag Icariiig on this sabject. lie wrote that he feared |l might not have seen it. and that I ought to. I thank him just ihe saaae, but as it baaweaed I already "laaiajed" the effusion in question, as ibad I try la keep akreaat of the most advaared thought toachia on aad appertalnla* to the gnat subject ;■ which are are all s. deeply devoted, i. c the thoroughbred race horse. lb ing but a bumble learner. la seeker after sweeit.ess ai:d light. I will always he found sitting at the feet of wisdom and im-; hioing its utaaariaca aiaapty in gui|is. In Ihe present instance I have gulped several ! tiniec. foi- how eould I help It! The biiden of thai preachaaeal in ajaeatiea is thai the aaedera thorough- bred, the highly improved specimen of the breed. ] Baaaeaaaa such anaadtaaa apeed that five -eighths afj mile is really as far as any sane m. n should expect I him to sustain it. If ho is asked to go farther, be finds himself, in the elegent and expi—ssivo language of the expoahtor, "practically exhausted." Why. Ihaa, ask him to go father. Can one not bet jist as i h mom v on a lace of five-eighths of a mile as a Marathonian affair of a mile or mote: And can one not gel more for an ovrgrown yearttag at the Spa which, as a two-year-old. can get away from the barrier with the swiftness of a COBBet, even if it may finish at a decidedly more moderate pace at the end of its flve-etgktbs of a vile, thaa ;..r the other type, which teeul bleow early, bet. aaea fully out. ranks as a hardy pereaaiat, a la ! Exterminator. HAS THE BREED IMPROVED I "Ihe prayer of a-; was for light." That if our modern turf heroes is for Eghining. of the five eighths mile variety. Everything levels down i.» a scramble, and the ateed that cant race iiself lata "practical exkaaatlaa" in the neighborhood of forty -five ICfoadn siinplv isnt in the contentiOTi. Well, if this is the goal for which we are striving, we not only know where we are ying. bat ate well along our way. On- has only to visit any of our race track-, high or low. to witness that s ate of "practical exkaaatkm" arrived at by a horde of steeds thai atari daily, and teat before the allotted five-eighths of a mile have been raced. If you are looking for highly improved specimens o; the lined, with excluively laaperted s,res and ih.tns Bad no drop of the contaminaling blood of the aet-tboroeghbred •■American familie-" in their ceraleaa rekaa, that are beaten eff a dozen .r more leacthfl in these fashes, yon will have no difficulty in finding them. No apyglaaa is needed, the naked eye will aaffice. Winn we acratiaize our morning Fatal, how often, eh. how often, in Ibe poofs pen .aire words, do this., words stare up in the face: ■•Honey Hun iiad early sliced, but ti:..! badly. Icalloa Girl OJBit in the last eighth. Kill and Pill iail and was palled up. His Royal Highness stepped after going a half mile." Ami so forth and s., forth and so on. And all because the breed has improved so: Per, look you. any of thse marvels is so terrifically Iasl that it could inn away and hide from Lexington or Loagfelkvw. Those berece af Batiqait had no real sjeeil at all. As that Ojulity is rated ifl these highly improved days, they simply didnt possess it. Hoaaebow. on.- nets the iaapreseiea that, if, bj s ..me trick of wb.aidry. a biiueh of them could be brought back ami paraded for our benefit at Bel-aioi | Park or Churchill Downs, the populace would beet them off the track aad, turning down their thumbs like the noble Romans of periods I. C . order them forthwith to the glue factory. What j else, indeed, could be done? As race beraea, not I fast enough to get mil of their own way. and their I i. 1 so base as to ho unfit to mingle with Ihe deep blue blood, so fashionable and figurative, that swips across the Atlantic, were it not a crime to i permit theai to raeaaahar the earth, even though oats which a year age cost eighty cents can now be beach1 f" thirty. The breed of thoroughbreds l I must be improved and even the memories of horses i lliat could nice four miles, and heats at that, are intolerable to an age when "practical exhaustion" is the rule of five furlongs— with the possibility of reaching it at four if improvement is aggressively maintained,
