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Here and There on the Turf 1 Bon Homme at His Best. 1 Cosdens New Venture. , Three Great Meetings at Hand. i Almost Too Many Horses. 1 1 Bon Homme, the four-year-old son of Sweep and Sue Smith that races under the silks of the Xalapa Farm, looms up prominently for -the mile and a quarter of the Thanksgiving Handicap, which will bring the Bowie meeting to a close Thursday. He gave every indication of his return to good form by his im- pressive victory Saturday, when he made a show of his opponents, but his race Monday was a much better performance when he won the Sunny South Purse. Saturday he left the post running fast and easily won all the way, . but on Monday he was sluggish and it was . a race to put his courage to the test. He had to work his way up on the outside and then, after closing up much ground to reach a con- tending position, was forced to stand a long drive to win. He was equal to the task and he could not have had a better try-out for . the 0,000 race. With Lucky Hour, a two-time winner at the meeting, and Bon Homme : the Lexington Stable-Xalapa Farm confederacy has a strong hand. But there are others in this last-day handicap that have also been training exceedingly well for its running and the indications are that post time will see both a large and a representative field of horses under silks. Before Bon Homme was started Monday G. W. Foreman offered J. W. McClelland 2,000 for him, but the offer was not entertained. As thoroughbred values go Bon Homme has proved himself to be worth considerably more than 2,000. J. S. Cosden, by his purchase of the J. Temple Gwathmey place at Warren ton, Va., has obtained one of the most modern and elaborate of thoroughbred establishments in the state. It will enable Mr. Cosden to go into breeding on the scale that his desires dictate and, at the same time, he has quarters where there is every facility for the conditioning of his horses for racing. This beautiful estate is one of the show places of Virginia. It abounds in, rich grazing land that should help to make it an ideal place for the production of thoroughbreds on a large scale. It is Mr. Cosdens intention to go into both racing and breeding in a bigger way than was ever attempted by Mr. Gwathmey. He could not have selected a more desirable place for the production, rearing and training of thoroughbreds. Mr. Cosden has paid higher prices for yearlings than any other sportsman of recent years. Not all of these have proved profitable from a racing viewpoint, but these same purchases will bring to his Virginia farm the best blood that is obtainable. It was within expectation when J. S. Cosden first came to the turf that he would eventually become a breeder and now he promises to be one of the foremost in Virginia, the native heath of some of the greatest American horses. Joseph A. Murphy, before leaving for New Orleans, where he will officiate both at Jefferson Park and the Fair Grounds, expressed the 1 1 , i 1 1 belief that the racing at both of these tracks would be better than in recent previous years. Jefferson Park is to open its meeting on Thanksgiving Day, the date for the opening of both Oriental Park in Cuba and James Cof-froths Tijuana track. That will mean continuous winter racing at three widely separated points. Of the three the only track in the United States is at New Orleans and it is determined that the organizations there shall so properly conduct their meetings that there can be no reproach and no attacks from the enemies of racing. In Cuba and in Mexico there are no- influential enemies of racing. Those meetings have not been harassed as racing has been bo frequently at New Orleans and almost everywhere else in this country. Racing has been brought to a high plane at both Oriental Park in Cuba and Tijuana in Mexico. It is racing that is conducted by American sportsmen and American horses furnish the entertainment. An evidence of the number of stables that will race through the cold months was offered when James Co ff roth instructed his eastern representative, C. W. Primrose, to book no more horses for Tijuana. The stabling will be taxed to its utmost now to take care of the horses on hand and, for that reason, Mr. Primrose had to cut down the size of the special horse train" that is to leave Baltimore December 1. The horses entered in the stakes, which close December 16, will naturally have first call when it comes to stabling and they will be the principal shipments in the special. Mr. Primrose will visit New Orleans before leaving for Tijuana, where he will complete his shipping arrangements for those that have engaged Tijuana stabling, but want to fill New Orleans engagements first.
