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Here and There on the Turf American Stud Records RecordsTransfer Transfer of Lexingtons Track TrackLower Lower Scale of Purses to Follow FollowSentiment Sentiment More Than Money Just how America has progressed in the production of the thoroughbred horse is vividly shown by a study of the breeding records The statistics compiled show that John E Madden for the sixth consecutive year leads all the American breeders with a total of 366 winners produced from his Hamburg Place In addi ¬ tion to these 377 from his establishment fin ished second 338 were third The total win ¬ nings of these reached 568785 What is oi perhaps the greatest interest is that for four of the six years that Mr Madden has topped the list of American breeders he has also topped the list of English breeders while hi each of the six years he led both the French and Irish breeders It was only in 1918 and 1920 that the most successful English breeder had a slight lead over Mr Madden Then in point of numbers of winners for the six years he shows a total of 1961 against 1506 as the English total totalMr Mr Madden has had to look to his laurels among his fellow American breeders in each of the six years except in 1917 and 1921 on both of which occasions he enjoyed a long lead over the others In 1918 August Bel mont was a close second to the master of Hamburg Place but Mr Belmont did not hold his place in the ranks although he is coming back now and promises to take his proper position with the produce of his Nurs ¬ ery Stud StudTo To return to the last year it is shown that while Hamburg Place was secure at the top of the list with a total of 366 winners Harry Payne Whitney sent 231 winners from Brookdale Farm and other breeders that pro ¬ duced winners of more than 100 races were August Belmont tha late Henry T Oxnard Arthur B Hancock Nevada Stock Farm Richard T Wilson B A Jones and Edward Cebrian While the produce from Hamburg Place won more than a half million dollars the Whitney produce accounted for 493607 Three other breeders accounted for more than 200000 each and seven followed with win ¬ nings in excess of 100000 100000All All of this tells eloquently of the present prosperity of the American turf and breeding industry The purchase of the Lexington track from the Kentucky Jockey Club by Thomas A Combs and his associates is of considerable importance to racing in that state With the sab the property will take back its old name of the Kentucky Association track and its ownership is now held by horsemen of central Kentucky This will in itself make the track one in which there will be more local pride than there has been in it while operated by the Kentucky Jockey Club But its rever ¬ sion to the local horsemen will mean a ma ¬ terial reduction in the money that will be offered offeredThe The plans for this year thus far made known are that the purses will range up from 800 while the handicaps and stakes will range from 1500 to 3000 for the spring meeting which is to open April 28 28Last Last year the Kentucky Jockey Club gave no purse at Lexington of a lesser value than 1300 and hi ten days racing the distribu ¬ tion was 104300 This included five stake races with 3000 added and another with 5000 added These distributions were out of all proportion with the track revenue and it is small wonder that Lexington racing was conducted at a loss lossReturning Returning to the purses that are promised Lexington should be able to pay its way and still the purses will be attractive enough for that tune of year to bring the horsemen Lexington is the tryingout ground for the greater Churchill Downs meeting to follow and owners meaning to race their horses there would take them to Lexington for its valu able use in real racing for even smaller purses than are to be offered offeredThere There has been a tendency for some time For racing associations to strive frantically to outdo one another in the princely amounts bung up for racing It is well that the stakes and purses should be worthy of the racin that is offered and the horses that are attracted but there is something more to the sport than the amount of money a hors3 may win winThis This mad idea of making this or that race the richest in history may attract horses but there are some famous old races that will always mean more than the money that is hung up To win a Kentucky Derby worth 50000 will give a true sportsman more of a thrill and give his horse a higher place in turf history than to win a 50000 freak race when the only appeal is the amount of money j j It is easy enough in prosperous times to build up the stake races until horses race for a pot of gold but it is a different matter to come back to sane ideas of values valuesThis This is in no sense meant as a plea for smaller purses No purses are too large it the racing warrants ths prize but there must always be kept in mind that races should mean more than the mere money that is hung up by the associations It would be impos ¬ sible to merely by weight of money make a race for inferior horses superior to the Ken ¬ tucky Derby the Lawrence Realization the Belmont Travers Preakness Futurity and other famous longestablished races of the American turf It would be calamitous if such a condition could be brought about All of these races arc rich fixtures now and it is well that they are rich fixtures But they have a richness that is not measured by the value of the prize They have an historical meaning that cannot be measured by money and they have a sentimental value that is infinitely more precious
