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- 1 1 Here and There on the Turf Reform in Entry Closing. Surf Riders Improvement. There has been no end of complaint made about the scratchbg of horses in the East and more or less good remedies have been suggested. One suggestion, and possibly a good one, is that the entries should be closed much earlier and trainers afforded an oppor- tunity to scratch before they are sent out. At every other track in the country there is an early closing of the entries for the day follow- ing, but in New York the time for closing is 2 oclock. When trouble is experienced in filling any of the programmed races, and it happens frequently, this time is set still further back for such a race. No good reason other than custom exists for this late closing of the entries. They should be closed no later than 10 oclock, and then there could at least be a chance afforded for scratching, as in the West, even if it was decided not to permit scratching before the entries are published. But all of this should be completed inside of an hour and at the latest the entries should be ready for publication at 11 oclock in the forenoon. Just why the closing time for entries in the races is set back to 2 oclock is hard to determine. Alert trainers are at the track all through the morning hours, training their horses, and it would be just as easy to make the entries at that time as at any later hour. The trainer knows at breakfast time just what his racing plans will be for the day following, or he should know, and an early closing will help all along the line. The limiting of scratching down to a fixed number, as is sometimes done, say eight, might do, but as a general proposition the races that fill beyond that number about the New York tracks are races from which the trainers have no desire to scratch. The withdrawals come from the races where there are less than eight named and, of course, under such a rule as that suggested they would have to stand. It is not possible, under the rules, to compel a man to start his horse when he desires to scratch, but penalties could be attachol to scratching below a fixed number. It should also be necessary to obtain permission to withdraw a horse, when it is so desired, after the field has been reduced to the fixed limit. There arc many ways in which the named condition could be bettered, but one step in the right direction would be an earlier closing of the entries in New York. Both at Saratoga and now at Louisville Surf Rider has given testimony of a return to the excellent form of his two-year-old days. After the close of last years racing that admirable turf writer and recognized authority, Walter S. Vosburgh, made a handicap of the two-year-olds of 1921 for Daily Racing Form, and gave Surf Rider an honorable place in the list. His comments indicated that he rather expected the colt to rise to greater eminence in the racing of 1922. This, due to Bickness j i 1 , . . , . ; ! j i . ; t ; , t 2 . s j . e -j i 5 and mischances of training, he did not do, but he is now giving evidence that Mr. Vos-burghs estimate of his ability in racing was well founded. In his easily achieved victory over Chatterton and Braedalbane he showed high-class form and is now a three-year-old to be reckoned with among the best of his age. He has good engagements yet to be discharged and what he "may do in them is one of the interesting problems of western racing. . P j 3 , I
