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Here and There on the Turf Around-the-Stove Specula- tions. Turf Problems Carried Over to 1923. Some of the Prospective Candidates. This is the season of the year when all of the races are run over again. Through the Ehort winter days and the long winter nights, where horsemen foregather every one of the big stakes is dissected. Excuses are offered for this or that defeat and the glory of some of the victors is discounted. Performances are carefully weighed and given their con- ceded degree of credit. With the perspective of time many a sage conclusion is reached and, in any event, the running over again of the races of the year affords opportunity for pro- found arguments on the classing of horses that starred through the racing season. But what , is of most interest comes in the predictions for 1923. Just how the two-year-olds will come back as three-year-olds is of much more importance than what they have already accomplished, although it naturally gives the line on such prognostications. Usually there are several that appear to stand out as superior three-year-old prospects, then frequently the three-year-old champion comes from another and altogether unexpected ! source. Frequently the best two-year-old will j fail utterly as a three-year-old, while some one that failed utterly to race successfully with the best two-year-olds sweeps all before him as a three-year-old. Last year at this time there was the unbeaten Morvich to tie to as the leading three-year-old prospect and in almost every other year there was a champion, or at most two or three, at the top around which the discus-! sion of three-year-old possibilities centered. But it has been different in 1922. There was no j champion and so many were of good class that the promising three-year-old prospects take in a considerable number. When there is no one stands out over its fellow it is considered rather a bad two-year-old year. Or, to put it differently, when the best of these raced, beat each other repeatedly and all fail to successfully give away weight, they are all put down as ordinary,, although it is as possible that there are many of good or high class, but so closely matched as to preclude a selection of one as best of them all. Either classifications may have been true of the two-year-olds of 1922 and it will take another year of racing to determine whether it was a bad or good crop. In the meantime the fact that not one of them stood out far enough to be crowned best of the year leaves the three-year-old racing to come in 1923 particularly interesting. The tests are so much more severe for the three-year-olds that there will be an evitable weeding out of many aspirants that on two-year-old racing might be considered among the best prospects. It is just possible that there will be another year with no three-year-old champion, as in fact was the case among the horses of that age in 1922, but the fight for the crown will be i c a t i i I i i i i 1 i i , 1 j ; : : , j i narrowed down considerably before all of the stake races for three-year-olds are decided. Some idea of what three-year-old racing next year holds out in prospect is furnished when it is shown that perhaps more than fifty two- year-olds by their racing this year must be considered as promising candidates to top the three-year-olds of 1923. And there may be even more than this number when the list is gone through carefully. Some may have been forgotten in this list, but among those which have shown enough to warrant the belief that they may lead the three-year-olds are: Enchantment, Messenger, Sallys Alley, Oui Oui. Vigil, General Thatcher, Dunlin, Goshawk, Wilderness, McKee, Tall Timber, Moonraker, Fly by Day, Osprcy, Forest Lore, Best Love, Solisa, Bright Tomorrow, Pow Wow, How Fair, Cyclops, Miss Smith, Bigel, Whirlwind, Boys Believe Me, Martingale, Cherry Pie, My Own, jRialto, Betty Beall, Shamrock, Picketer, Donges, Blossom Time, Little Celt, Noel, Edict, jBo McMillan, Cartoonist, Great Man, Miss Star, Chickvale, Bluemont, Zev, King Charming, Atherstone, In Memoriam, William Tell, Bud jLerner. Probably good ones have been over-; looked in the list, while many horsemen would prune this band down materially, but stranger things have happened in racing than that any j one of those named may stand out alone over his antagonists next year. Each at one time or another this year has shown enough to suggest championship class and no one of them has been far enough above the others to be secure at the top of the heap. Many of these will never be other than useful sprinters. Others will go on as far as horses are asked to race, but all of that will not be determined until they are actually raced. Messenger went amiss just when he was being heralded as the probable best two-year-old of the year. He seemed to have everything a champion should have. It is confidently expected that Louis Feustel will bring him back to the races for his three-year-old engagements. If he is brought back successfully he should be fighting it out for the three-year-old crown as one of the best of 1923. Enchantment lost several races he should have won by reason of his slowness in starting, 1 2 ; 3 4 5 G ; 1 : ! , 5 ! , l , , but he is sure to show to much better advantage over the three-year-old distances. He is practically barred from championship honors because of being a gelding, but at this time he is a wonderfully bright prospect for the Kentucky Derby. Goshawk, the two-year-old that Gifford A. Cochran purchased from Harry Payne Whitney, earned most of his fame early in the racing season and, for a time, enjoyed a brief reign as king. Dunlin flashed to the top and was purchased from John E. Madden by J. S. Cosden. McKee showed promise that induced Charles A. Stoneham to pay Mr. Madden a big price for him. Sallys Alley stood up well among both colts and fillies when she won both the Futurity and the Pimlico Futurity. It would be possible to go on through almost the entire list and show reasons for including them all among possible three-year-old champions. But the number in .the eligible list adds to the interest of these winter discussions and, after all, discussions do not crown champions.- The best may not winter well and the least of them may come from winter quarters better than ever before.
