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Here and There on the Turf Eastern Impressions of La-tonia. Concerning Disqualifications. Good Horses for Winter Racing. Exterminators Possible Successor. The Making of Jockeys. One of the things which impress an Eastern visitor at Latonia is the marked absence of rough riding. The Kentucky Jockey Club stewards took a determined stand on this question early in the racing season and backed up their words with drastic action against violators. Unfair riding tactics can do more harm to racing than can readily be estimated. The purpose of the sport is to test speed and stamina, to eliminate the weak and improve the strong among thoroughbreds. Accordingly everything which can be done to make racing a true test of these two important factors must be done if the sport is to endure. To instill into the younger riders the will to win is not so important as to inspire them with the will to win fairly. It is the worst training in the world for a young apprentice to obtain his first experience in the saddle at a track where the officials are inclined to wink at violations of the rules of racing on the part of the jockeys. At Latonia these fall days there are several young riders who give promise of developing into good jockeys. They are learning to ride cleanly because they realize that rough tactics will not be tolerated. They know that those same officials who would be quick to act against them, if they took unfair advantage of an opportunity, will protect them against unfair tactics on the part of their rivals. As a result they play fair, ride i cleanly and win or lose, as the case may be ! according to the speed of their mounts and their respective skill in the saddle. The respect of the riders for the judgment ; of the officials is shown by the fact that there : are no frivolous claims of foul. Time after time three or four horses come thundering ; down the stretch heads apart, fighting inch i by inch for the winning advantage. There is every opportunity for leg locking, interference, , bumping and other unfair tactics, but the s riders attend to their own affairs, devoting ; every ounce of attention to helping their own mounts. Barring the element of racing luck, , the races are decided by speed and riding skill, , as they should be. Mack Garner, whose fine ride was largely responsible for Rockministers record-breaking victory in the Latonia Championship Stakes 3 last Saturday, is considered by many horsemen - to be one of the most skillful of present t day jockeys. The youngsters at Latonia have ; opportunity to watch his methods and gain 1 valuable experience by riding against him in i actual races. Race riding, like any other profession, - depends almost equally on natural ability, - and competent training. This training must be gained chiefly by experience, - of course, but it is fully as important t for the apprentice to study the methods of the ; leaders of-his profession as it is for the law ! student to read Blackstone. When a beginner is so fortunate as to be ; riding at a track where he can study the work : of such an expert as Garner, he can learn by 7 example many things which, in the ordinary r i ! ; : ; i , s ; , , 3 - t ; 1 i - - - t ; ! ; : 7 r course of events, he would have to find out for himself by unpleasant experience. It is always unfortunate when a disqualification becomes necessary and it was unfortunate that James Butlers Stella Maris should have 1 to be set back after she was first home in the last race at Empire City Thursday. But she : merited the action of the stewards and the ; 3 action was prompt. What was brought home j forcibly in the ruling was that on the turf all men ktc equal when it comes to such rulings. Stella Maris is the property of James Butler and she committed her offense on a track owned by Mr. Buthr, yet she was treated just as any other offender would be treated. All fair-minded men know that there has always been the same impartiality in rulings on any track, but such a ruling stills much of the loose talk one hears from time to time that certain owners enjoy more privileges than others. All owners are alike when their horses meet on the race course and the lowliest has the same chance as the one highest up. There is one end of racing that is always administered without fear or favor. Racing throughout 1922 has been wonderfully free from scandal and, while there have been some disqualifications and some punishments for rough riding, the stewards have ever had a watchful eye and they have ruled promptly and wisely when the occasion demanded. With the closing of the New York racing season at hand and Kentucky nearing the close of its long campaign, horses are already on their way to the various tracks that have beckoned for the cold weather season. This year, more than ever before, good horses are to be kept in training right through the year and stables that never before raced at any of the winter tracks will show their racing silks. In fact, there are few, indeed, of the largest racing establishments that will not have some horses at one or another of the courses that fill in through December, January, February and March. Then the racing season rolls around again to Maryland and Kentucky and on up through the circuit that is growing stronger with every passing year. The close of 1922 will come without any outstanding champion in either the two-year-old or the three-year-old division, while even the best handicap horse is a debatable question, although many would unhesitatingly name Ex-, terminator. That wonderful old gelding, by his long years of brilliant turf performances, has always been right up at the top, but each year there are some contenders that are will-I ing to give him an argument. He has just about disposed of them all this year, but some good judges have picked the wonderfully con-. sistent Prince James as a logical contender for top honors. Prince James has done about all that has been asked of him and has shown a brilliance of accomplishment that gives xea-i son for the contention that he might even wrest top honors from Exterminator. But that is only a conjecture. Prince James has not had anything like the high-class opposi-i tion in racing that has come to Exterminator. If he had been raced as often as has the son of McGee and Fair Empress, it is entirely possible that he would not enjoy the same reputa-r tion for consistency that is his at this time. In an effort to make new jockeys there are frequently races offered in which only lads who have never ridden a winner are eligible to ride. Of course, this gives the little exercise boys a chance to show their wares in public with the silks up. Some have been developed from such races and doubthss such races have their place, but the educational value is debatable. Of course, the trainer does not care to take a chance with an inexperienced rider against the good ones and many a jockey prospect would never have a race riding chance if it were not for such races. But with a crowd of youngsters that have never had race riding experience how are they to learn from one another? The best rider of the outfit may win, but it would not follow that he was a good rider. lie may have won by mistakes either of his own or of other riders. To be the best of a bad number is not much and the real school for a rider is to send him out against some riders that have a measure of skill that may teach him something. There always will be some of these little fellows who are natural riders. They will come to the front over the other "maidens" the first time they have an opportunity, but they learn nothing in such races. In exercise galloping they have already learned how to sit on a horse and make him run, but there is plenty more to be learned before the boy becomes a jockey. That is only learned by competition with riders that are qualified to offer the instruction in races.
