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PUZZLE ALL THE YEAR o Difficult Task to Determine Class of 1922 Racers. Exterminator Supreme Among Oider Horses Leadership of Two and Three-Year-Old Division in Doubt. BY C. J. FITZ GERALD. NEW YORK, N. Y., November 4. In no previous year that ran be recalled has it been so difficult to determine the class of the horses laking part in the sport on the Jockey Out tracks. This fact has made the racing iiteresting, even if it has not given evidence of the presence of many animals of superlative quality. In the handicap division Exterminator has b-.cr. supreme. Form has been fairly well confirmed in the three-year-old contingent, but when It comes to the two-year-olds the experts are all at sea, and it will require the tests of the late autumn at a mile to determine where the honors shall go among the juveniles. In considering the performances of the horses four years old or over Exterminators victory over Grey Lag in the Brooklyn Handicap stands out as the finest performance of the year. The rioted gelding carried 135 jp. Minds and defeated the fine four-year-old jWith 126 up in a contest that will never be j forgotten by those who witnessed it. The first mile was run in 1:37 and a mile and an eighth in 1 :50. Grey Lag could beat I the other horses of his own age or older the l remainder of the year with consummate ease. I This fact enhances the quality of Extermina-: tor and if he remains sound enough to finish the current Maryland campaign lie has an j excellent opportunity of becoming the largest money winner on the American turf. EPIDEMIC CAUSES CONFUSION. The epidemic of coughing which broke out in Maryland in the early spring and spread to New York later confused both the two and three-year-old situations, preventing many of the best in both divisio?is from going to the post until the year was well advanced. Some of the best three-year-olds j jwere absent when the bugle sounded for the I Belmont and Preakness Stakes, as well as jthe Kentucky Derby. Early three-year-old form was subject to rapid change because of this, and the glory of Pillory, winner of ithe Belmont and Preakness, and of Morvich, I winner of the Derby, was dimmed ; first by : Bunting, later by Kai-Sang and Whiskaway, ; and in the final showing by Rockminister and j Lucky Hour. I The latters defeat of Mad Hatter and Sen- nings Park in the Edgemere Handicap at I : Aqueduct and of Exterminator and Paragon! j II. in the Washington Handicap on the clos-J ing day at Laurel stamp him as a colt of real j merit. That he should race so well with ! ! an open wound in his head is remarkable.! I None of the other three-year-olds of the year j ! have such a record against the old horses, j While Lucky Hour was beaten by Rock-minister for the Latonia Championship, the admirers of the former will not accept the j outcome of that race as conclusive. That ; Rockministers effort was brilliant is admit- j ! ted, but despite the assertion that Lucky Hour cannot be restrained in the early parti j of a race there are many who would like I ! to see the colt kept off the pace over a long distance. Horses with his superlative speed . win their races with one decisive challenge, f It is unfortunate that Whiskaway did not train after he became the property of C. Y. j Clark. It is equally unfortunate that Bunt- I j ing was lamed in his last race in Kentucky and it was a misfortune to have Kai-Sang under suspicion at a period when he was i ready to take part in the big handicap of i j tho autumn. Mr. Yoshurgh has indicated his j j preference for Kai-Sang over the other three- I year-olds by making him the top weight in i i the handicaps of that age. Many good judges agree with the Jockey Clubs expert in his estimate of this fast and game three-year-old who might equal the showing of Lucky . Hour if he had gone through the autumn j campaign instead of being retired at Bel-j mont Park. His race for the Realization,! when he beat Bunting half a length, was his best, just as it was high water mark ! for Bunting, though the Whitney colt was j a rare good one the day he beat Mad Hat- ter in a gallop for the Brentwood Handicap, running the first mile in 1 :36tj with 120 pounds in the saddle. IiOWE CONFIDENT OF YICTOBY. James Rowe told his intimates before go-ling to Kentucky for the Latonia Championship, in which Bunting fell lame, that he j was satisfied with the colts condition for the first time this year and that be would win without a doubt. Earlier in the year : : when both Whiskaway and Bunting were under this experts care the former was considered the better and this opinion was con- firmed by the victory of the chestnut in the Caritot Stakes and the $."0,00n special in Kentucky. After the sale of VVhiskaway to Mr. Clark for 50,000 Bunting again came into the limelight. Morvich and Snob II., j prominent early in the year among the three- ; year-olds, ceased to be factors after a brief j period and history will not record them a ! place among the real great colts of the year. I In the matter of two-year-olds the public j has had a new idol at every meeting. Enchantment raced superbly in Maryland in the spring, and bad post manners alone kept I him from being among the big winners of the year. On the New York circuit each ; newcomer during the first six weeks of the year was a sensation. Thus we had Martingale, Great Man, Cherry Pie, Bud Ler-ner, Sunference, Sallys Alley and Cresta, to be followed later by Goshawk, Dunlin, Cyclops, McKee, Edict, Zev, Wilderness, Messenger, Tall Timber, How Fair and Little Celt. Each won good races for their stables and claimed the attention of the experts. Many thought Messenger might have developed into the best juvenile, as he looked the part, but he was thrown out of training at Saratoga after a brilliant victory in the Grab Bag Handicap. The showing of Sallys Alley in the Futurity gave that filly a distinction not enjoyed by a two-year-old of her sex since the days of Artful, winner of the stake in much the same commanding style in the year when Sysonby was carrying everything before him. Dunlin. Goshawk, and Zev were clinkers at times, the former winning the Hopeful Stakes, while the latter was in a class by himself as a mud runner, his ability to go through heavy or sloppy footing bordering ou the phenomenal. It is doubtful whether the two big races at Pimlico the Futurity and the Walden will decide the matter of juvenile supremacy, as the are to be run around two turns, and a big field usually renders their decision a matter of luck. Early speed is an essential in such contests. Those around the first turn in a good position, if fortified with stout blood, have an advantage over their fellows. The presence of so many two-year-olds of promise this autumn augurs well for the three-year-old stakes of 192o, while the handicap division will be enriched by eight or ten four-year-olds that will make it interesting for Exterminator, Grey Lag, Mad Hatter, Prince James, Tryster and other good horses that have won favor with the tastern public this year.
