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Here and There on the Turf Star Two-Year-Olds. Cartoonists Promise. Saratoga Stakes Unrevealing. Saturdays Special Race. The major stakes for tworyear-olds of the Saratoga meeting have all furnished surprises. The Flash Stakes were won by Dust Flower, a western filly, which was not considered seriously by the easterners. Then, in the United States Hotel Stakes J. S. Cos-dens Martingale performed the at present singular feat of winning under 130 pounds. He defeated a good band and established himself temporarily at the head of the mud-running I two-year-olds of the meeting. I Then the running of the Sanford Memorial j resulted in a victory for Bo McMillan, carry- ing the colors of T. J. Pendergast of Kansas j City. The field in the Sanford Memorial was not up to the standard of the other stakes, however, and Bo McMillans victory did not I give him any claim on the championship. In the Saratoga Special H. P. Whitneys Goshawk, later sold to Gifford A. Cochran for 0,000, ran a remarkable race to defeat the best two-year-olds of the year. Behind him in the Saratoga Special finished McKee, Bud Lerner, Martingale, Messenger, Cartoonist, Rialto, Tall Timber and Body Guard. As the race was at even weight,, it was the most searching test of the relative standing of ! these top-notchers that the Saratoga meeting has brought. Then came the Grab Bag Handicap and the victory of August Belmonts Messenger. The colt immediately became the object of a great amount of praise and was hailed by many as the coming champion. He has not started since that race and his prestige remains unimpaired. The Grand Union Hotel Stakes of last Saturday, because of track conditions, seems to have no great bearing on the championship. It was won by the Ran cocas Stables Zev, a superior mud runner and probably a good and improving two-year-old. Martingale lost some of his standing as a mud runner in that contest. Cartoonist, then, has come into the two-year-old racing picture after several failures, with a performance so good as to bring him into contention for the two-year-old crown. He has several to beat before he can have any high claim on the championship, but he i will have his chance to do this. If the 1922 j racing season thus far is to be a forecast j of the part to come, however, there may, as has often been the case, no well-defined champion, as Morvich was last year. It may rest with Messenger to dispel the present uncertainty. The Saratoga two-year-old stake races continue to shed little light on the decision of the juvenile championship. The Adirondack Handicap of Tuesday revealed another candidate for high honors in H. C. Fisliers Cartoonist, while it practically dimmed the prospects of Bud Lerner and Cherry Pie. Cartoonist was receiving nine pounds from Bud Lerner and six pounds from Cherry Pie, but he won so easily that these weight concessions were more than equalized by the matter of his victory. Bud Lerner, as usual, began slowly, but when such misfortunes become habitual, they are an element to be considered in rating the horses. This means that the Rancocas purchase may not be as good aprospect for the remaining stakes for two-year-olds as his previous racing and speed would appear to make him. Cherry Pie lacked early speed in the Adirondack Handicap, but showed enough in the stretch to have won the race, if he had started in time. But these late rushes are of no avail if they come when the race is already practically decided. Certainly there is little of consequence in the results of the stake races for three-year-olds decided thus far at Saratoga. The Travers Stakes was the only one of these which even held out any promise when the overnight entry list was published. The weather took care of the Travers and, as it turned out, it was practically no contest. But next Saturdays Special will give a pleasing opportunity for the leaders to fight it out. Otherwise the fall racing season will open without any progress in the direction of a decision, as Whiskaway is likely to travel West for the autumn campaign in Kentucky and will have little chance to defend the laurels which he has gathered to date.
