view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Ever Popular Hero. That Vanishing Saratoga Race. Ards to Come Back. Whiskaway Leaves the Spa. Lack of Steeplechasers. " The promised return of Exterminator to the races for an attempt to win a fourth ! consecutive victory in the Saratoga Cup is perhaps the most colorful prospect of the closing week at the Spa. .After the Kilmer veteran had been beaten under heavy weight in the Saratoga Handicap on the opening day of the meeting, there were rumors to the effect that he had run his last race. But the wise ones smiled, for they have become accustomed to hearing "Exterminator is going back," "Exterminator is through; hell never race again," and all the rest of the haphazard statements which have been made at intervals. Exterminator is one of the most durable horses known and has to give no weight away in the Cup. It is to be hoped that he will show the folks a few things in the Saratoga Cup running. Because of the fact that they finally managed to beat him badly in the Saratoga Handicap, the trainers at Saratoga are likely to send enough competition into the race to make it a hot contest. But the crowd will be there rooting for Exterminator, as popular a horse and as great a hero of the turf as any that ever wore a plate. The last Saratoga chance for a solution of the matter of three-year-old superiority faded into thin air with the posting on the notice board at Saratoga "Wednesday of "Whiskaway as an added starter in the Huron Handicap. "Whiskaway might have derived some benefit from the Huron Handicap if .his impost had not been so crushing. He carried 132 pounds, was under hard riding all the way and had considerable difficulty in cooling out after the race. Naturally, the resulting soreness precludes the possibility of bringing him around before the rapidly-approaching close of the Saratoga meeting. That "Whiskaway is worth the price C. W. Clark paid for him is not disputed by turfmen. There is no inclination to take the race run by the san of "Whisk Broom II. in the Huron Handicap as the least detracting from his demonstrated greatness. It was intended as a work-out, but it probably was too severe a trial. There ha-ve been two announcements during the last week which lead devotees of cross-country racing to believe that a turn for the better is at hand. These were the report that the English jumper Ards is back in condition and will start in the steeplechases at Belmont Park. Also the statement that the Greentree Stable has transferred Letterman from the flat to the jumping division. Of course, Letterman cannot be expected to do much until next year, but the Superman three-year-old is of the right conformation for a jumper and in time may develop into a smasher in his new capacity. Ards has already shown his good class "and will be a marked addition to the jumpers for the fall racing. But, in any case, more than one recruit is needed to make the steeplechasing around New York sufficiently interesting to justify continuance. At the close of the .Saratoga meeting j Whiskaway will be starting to Kentucky with the remainder of his new owners horses and the chances for a meeting between .him and his leading rivals, most of which will be racing in the East, will not be of the best, although Thibodaux may prove a dangerous rival, as he did in the Kentucky Special. Only a meeting between the leading eastern three-year-olds, Thibodaux and "Whiskaway, all in condition, can really decide anything. This is not likely to occur unless either the Kentucky Jockey Club or one of the New" York racing associations hangs up a huge sum for a repetition of the Kentucky Special. The cancellation of all remaining overnight steeplechases of the Saratoga meeting was a wise move on the part of the Saratoga association. The fields have been so small in recent jumping races there that there would have been grounds for declaring "no contest" in some of them. The small size of the jumping brigade is unfortunate. Until owners are prepared to turn horses of some usefulness to the cross-country sport there will continue to be a marked lack of sufficient competition in the fields and a consequent lack of interest on the part of the public in steeplechasing.
