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Here and There on the Turf Jockey Clubs Nevest Member. Oak Ridge Stable Horses. Photographed Finishes in England. The Jockey Club is to be congratulated in having Thomas Fortune Ryan for its newest member. Mr. Ryan has long bean a value 1 supporter of racing and for many j-ears the silks of the Oak RMge Stable have beeu popular. Ho has also taken a front position among the breeders and from time to time he has done important things for the thoroughbred. Mr. Ryan imported Sea King in 1910 and, although this sterling son of Persimmon and Sea Air, by Isonomy, has since died, he left his impression. During his short term in the stud Sea King had one Kentucky Derby winner to his credit in Paul Jones. Others that he sent to the races were Bantry Pass, Nancy Shanks, Sherando, Irish Confetti, Contact, Siren Maid, Sea Mint, Fair Virginia, Matches Mary, Clinchfield, Northcliffe, The Clock-mender and other winners. Mr. Ryan has retired from his ownership of the Oak Ridge Stable, but the establishment is kept up by his son, Clendinnin Ryan and the elder sportsman and breeder take3 a lively interest in the string. He also continues his interest in breeding and six fillies were sent to Hal Price Headleys Beaumont Farm this fall. Then, at the Saratoga sales last August, there were a number of important purchases made when 5,100 was paid for a brown son of Peter Pan and Passan, by Hamburg, that has since been christened Laurano. Two other important purchases were a colt by Friar Rock Swan Song, for which 1,000 was paid, and a son of Sweep and Hanrosc, by Hanover, that was purchased for 0,100. The Friar Rock colt has been named Apprehension, while the Sweep colt will be known to racing as Mac o Boy. For the 1923 campaign the Oak Ridge Stable will come to the races with a strong string and, in addition to the eight yearlings that were purchased, there are six that were bred by Mr. Ryan that will bear the white and green silks. Of these, three are by the dead Sea King and the other three are respectively by Wrack, Hessian and George Smith. And now England is to have instantaneous photographs of the finishes of races. It is not thought for a moment that the camera will take the place of the judges, but a camera has been devised that promises to make mistakes in the placing of horse3 impossible. This is not in any measure an innovation, for the camera was used in Australia some years back and it must be admitted that the photographs that were published were .anything but an improvement on the ordinary method of placing at the finishes. Just what is proposed by the English device is to have five cameras in one and five photographs taken simultaneously. It is promised it will make mistakes impossible. Only one lens is pointed directly at the winning line. The second is fixed so that it is directed at a spot about a couple of feet before the winning line is reached and the third is a similar distance beyond the line, and so on, until each of the five plates is employed. All this may be feasible, but just how photographs not taken directly on the winning line help any has not been disclosed. It is argued that the eye is frequently deceived in following the progress of a horse that is catching I the leader just as the winning post is reached. But how much will the camera correct this deception? However, it is something new in the photographic finish and it might : be worth a trial. Unless it shows altogether different results from those obtained in Australia it will be of no marked help in determining close finishes. The camera is just like many another mechanical device that has been .tried out from time to time to take the place of the human agency and, up to this time, the human has it over all the mechanical devices, at least in determining which horse finished first in a race. The camera may not lie, but it certainly can deceive, as all will testify who have made a study of some of the best photographs of close finishes that have ever been taken.
