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Here and There on the Turf The Jockey Club Gold Cup. Misfortunes of Lucky Hour. The nearer the decision of the Jockey Club Gold Cup approaches the more it appears likely to be a three-year-old race. It would be just as well if it were confined to a field of thre3-year-olds if only Kai-Sang, Bunting and Pillory were brought to the post. That would at least tend to settle the question of superiority between the three. Many shrewd horsemen who watched the running of the Lawrence Realization are not willing to admit that Kai-Sang is the master of Bunting, and they long for the pair to come together again over the two-mile distance. Sande rode Kai-Sang with much better judgment than Kum-mer did the Whitney colt, and the presence of Rockminister was a decided handicap to the son of Pennant and Frillery. It is hardly possible that Kummer would make the same mistake again of racing with a pacemaker, and the two miles would come to a question of stamina between the two colts. On that score the blood lines might play an important part, for it is over such distances as the two miles of the Jockey Club Gold Cup that bottom counts for so much. Without going deeply into the blood lines it is held by some that Kai-Sang has some reason to outstay Bunting. Pennant, the sire of the Futurity winner, comes from a family that is more remarkable for its extreme speed than its staying qualities, while The Finn, the sire of Kai-Sang, was himself a rare stayer. The Finn is a son of the English stallion Ogden, a son of Kilwarlin and the Bend Or mare Oriole, while his dam, Livonia, is a daughter of Star Shoot and the Rayon dOr mare Woodray. There can be found no stouter blood lines than these. Kai-Sang has proved himself a remarkable colt and when he is backed up by such a pedigree he seems theoretically to have a distinct advantage over Bunting when it comes to racing over two miles. Bunting has upset some of the theories of the breeding sharps already, and he may be the master of Kai-Sang in the Gold Cup. If he is he will surely be the best son of Pennant, just as Pennant was the best son of Peter Pan. Frillery, the dam of Bunting, is a stoutly bred mare, being by Broomstick Petticoat, by Hamburg, and from the Sir Dixon mare, Elusive. Altogether, along this particular line Bunting has every right to be a good one, but in the male line the offspring of Commando, the sire of Peter Pan, have shown more in the way of speed than stamina. But a lion is in the path of the three-year-olds and, after all, two other good ones of more mature age may have the most to do with the disposal of the race. These are the four-year-olds Grey Lag, from the Ran-cocas Stable, and Playfellow, from the Quincy Stable. Of course, Grey Lag, with the possible exception of Exterminator, is the best handicap horse in training. There is still a big question mark after Playfellow, whose first claim to fame was the fact that he is a brother to Man o War, and that he was sold for 00,000 as a three-year-old last year by James F. Johnson, owner of the Quincy Stable, to the Rancocas Stable. How there followed a suit over the sale and a final verdict that the colt be returned to Mr. Johnson and the purchase price be returned to Mr. Sinclair, the owner of the Rancocas Stable, is all history. It was a court controversy that enlivened some of the winter days for those who did not go south with the horses. It may be unfortunate that the litigation kept Playfellow away from the races for so long, but he has been back in the Quincy Stable long enough to be brought to racing condition by James Fitzsimmons. Both Fitzsimmons and Johnson have all along contended that Playfellow is all that he was represented to be when 00,000 was paid for him. Fitzsimmons has been carefully preparing Playfellow for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and, if it is decided that he is up to such a race, he will probably be seen at the post. The son of Fair Play and Mahubah has ce frequent occasions, in private, shown enough to warrant the belief that he is the stuff of which champions are made. He has every reason to go on, taking a line through j his mighty brother, and his presence in the field would lend immense interest to the i race next Saturday. There need be no immediate fear that the Lexington Stables Lucky Hour will cut any figure among the topnotch three-year-olds of the season. Much credit is coming to Roy Waldron for having brought him back to the races in winning form, and his performance at Belmont Park Monday was a thoroughly good one, but not of a character that would give him a serious chance among the foremost contenders for the leadership of the three-year-old division. This is not taking anything away from either Lucky Hour or his trainer. The colt is plainly not the colt that was shown at Havre de Grace early in the spring and there are still evidences of the ravages of, first, the epidemic to which he fell a victim, and, second, the later injury he received when he was kicked by a stablemate, Southern Cross. At Havre de Grace he was a picture horse and greatly resembled his magnificent sire, Hour-less. Now he looks poor and drawn and, while trainer Waldron has him back in racing form, he has lost much of that robust health which was his when he was first shown after a winter of idleness. He is seemingly lacking in something that no amount of training will restore. But Lucky Hour has been just about as unlucky as any colt of the year. It was when he made his first appearance on the track, after his spell of sickness, that he met with an injury that for a time threatened to make his destruction the only humane course. While taking light exercise in a string from the stable and following Southern Cross that colt lashed out with his heels and landed fairly on Lucky Hours forehead. The kick had force enough to knock the colt down and a fragment was splintered from the hard frontal bone. A matter of a fraction of an inch was all that saved him from a kick that would have killed, and, as it was, Dr. McCulley had to perform an operation and remove a piece of bone. This was a severe setback, but Waldron was patient and he gradually restored the colt to his strength when galloping was again possible. Then at Saratoga the frequent rains did not permit of all the galloping that was required, but no mistakes were made and Lucky Hour was at least brought back to winning form. As a result of his injury the colt wears a bandage over his head, constructed somewhat like a pair of blinkers. And despite his misfortunes his mile in 1:36 says he can master more of his age than can master him.
