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Here and There on the Turf Versatility of Exterminator. Bluemont Wins Consideration. Good Work for the Thoroughbred. Dufferin Park a Gold Mine. Exterminator continues on his winning way. One after another this sterling old gelding bowls them over and in his victory in the Toronto Autumn Cup gave one more evidence of his greatness. It was his third consecutive victory, but he has shown in other races that he is the most dependable repeater the American turf has ever known. In his race Wednesday the son of McGee and Fair Empress carried 132 pounds and under that weight he was giving away pounds to all the other starters. He won under same weight in 1920 and last year had up 137. His old rival Boniface was really the only one to race against him that had anything like a high-class handicap impost. He carried 124 pounds, but finished outside the money. Golden Sphere, the Seagram winner of the Toronto i Cup in the spring, the King Edward Gold Cup and two other important Canadian stake races, was next in the handicap with only 113 pounds as his burden and finished last of the eight that ran. But giving any amount of weight was all the same to Exterminator and, when the stretch was reached, he strode past the leader in a jiffy to win going away by a length and a half. He thereby added just 2,80 to his magnificent earnings in his long service on the turf. And the marvel of it all is that Exterminator began his 1922 season with a sprinting victory at three-quarters in the Harford Handicap at Havre de Grace on April 15. He goes on his honest winning way right through the racing season and on September 20, as good or better than ever, he takes upi 132 pounds and gallops a mile and a quarter i in 2:054 to beat a thoroughly good class band of handicap horses. Is there any wonder that Exterminator has become such a turf idol? The victory of the Quincy Stables Bluemont in the 0,000 Eastern Shore Handicap gives the son of Vulcain and Notasulga a new importance among those of his ag?, but it did nothing to clear up the race for top honors in that age division. His was a thoroughly good performance, but he only took up 106 pounds and the band that was back of him could hardly be rated as among the top-notchers of the year. There remains the mil races at Laurel and Pimlico that may put the final stamp on the king or queen of the division in the East, but at Pimlico Enchantment, by reason of his being a gelding, is not an eligible to the Maryland Futurity. He is in the Manor Handicap at Laurel, but the fact that it is a handicap does not make it an adequate test to decide a championship. Just now, barring Messenger, Enchantment appears to be the best two-year-old, but, by reason of his being unsexed, he has limited opportunities I to show his worth and his chances as a three-year-old will also be limited. The Genesee Valley Breeders Association has done wonders in the exploitation of ths thoroughbred horse as a sire and it has the most valuable adjunct to the Breeding Bureau, for it came into being largely through the placing of public stallions throughout the state. There the best results were obtained in mating these pure-blooded horses with cold-blooded mares. A reason for the excellence of the results was that there was not the haphazard breeding that obtained in so many sections. Mares were chosen with care and proper care was taken of the stock. This association has grown to great importance and its annual horse show has been improving year after year. This show, as well as the other similar shows where the produce of mares mated with these public stallions of the Breeding Bureau are exhibited, have done much to bring out what has been, done for the improvement of the breed. Dufferin Park is only a half-mile track, but it is, without doubt, the most successful of all half-mile tracks on this continent. It certainly has been a gold mine for Mr. Orpen and his associates. During the spring and autumn meetings at Dufferin this year, fourteen days racing in all, over ,000,000 was wagered in the mutuels. The daily attendance averaged over 10,000 and on Labor Day 18,000 persons passed through the turnstiles and several more thousands were unable to gain admission. The chief reason for the remarkable success of Dufferin Park is that the track is situated in the heart of the thriving city of Toronto, the stronghold of thoroughbred racing in Canada.
