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Here and There on the Turf Lottery of the Sales Ring RingHighPriced HighPriced Failures of Last LastYear Year Hope for Two of Them Many a tale has been told of the high priced yearlings that never made good Many another will probably be told but for every highpriced failure one can call to mind a cheap yearling that made good a hundred fold There will always be this lottery in the pur ¬ chase of yearlings no matter how shrewd be the buyer buyerThe The yearlings of 1920 that raced last year as twoyearolds were no exception to the rule and of the eight that sold for 10000 or more each at Saratoga there was only one that won a race and he only won one This soli ¬ tary exception was Hellgate a son of Friar Rock and Swan Song purchased from the J H Rosseter consignment for 10000 by Joseph E Widener Those that were never brought to the races were Cyclone a son of Sweep and Ballet Girl Marys Last a son of Hourless and Mary Davis El Astro a son of Star Shoot and El Maha Prime Minister a colt by Celt Primula II and Fox Tail a colt by Short Grass Triple Crown Cyclone was the top priced yearling of the sales He was consigned by Capt P M Walker and was knocked down to J S Cos den for 21000 21000Marys Marys Last was consigned by E F Simms He went to C A Stoneham for 14500 and was the second highest priced one of the year yearEl El Astro was also consigned by E F Simms and fell to Scott Harlan for the Greentree Stable for 12500 12500Prime Prime Minister was bought out of the Bel air Stud consignment by Robert L Gerry for 12000 12000Fox Fox Tail the other one that was not started cost Gifford A Cochran 10500 when he was purchased from the Short Grass Stud StudThe The other 10000 purchases were all brought to the post but were anything but successful successfulS S D Riddle paid 10000 for Ten Minutes black son of Hourless aud Pamphyle He was raced three times and is still a maiden maidenC C A Stoneham paid a like amount ior Woodlake a brown son of Ogden and Scenery and although he was raced five times he failed to win a purse The other highpriced yearling was Hell Gate a son of Friar Rock and Swan Song whose winning race has already been mentioned Of course these juvenile failures still have a chance to make good that is some of them have a chance Garth has by no means given up hope for Cyclone The colt on frequent occasions flat ¬ tered in his private work but never reached condition that warranted his being sent to the post He has been engaged in some of the fctakee that have already been closed and two of his engagements are in the Suburban and Toboggan Handicaps There is range enough there for one is at a mile and a quarter and the other at threequarters of a mile Probably the most promising of the other failures is Ten Minutes This colt did not have a fair chance last year and it was not until late in the fall that he was brought to the races In Maryland this one showed Gwyn Tompkins enough to suggest that he might develop into a highclass threeyearold Through the winter at the Qlen Riddle Farm at Berlin Md he has been going along en ¬ couragingly and with the others of the string has improved marvelously in appearance It is just possible that Ten Minutes will bear the silks of the stable in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 12 12The The others of these highpriced failures have not so far as is known shown enough to warrant the prediction that they will prove profitable investments This is the same old story that can be told year after year but there is no reason why high prices should not be paid for the yearlings when the stake races for twoyearolds have grown to such princely proportions One good one will pay for many a bad one and after all the men who made these purchases did not make them as they would go into a business venture They are men with whom racing is an amusement and they can well afford to pay for their racing stables They will continue to match their skill in selecting yearlings and to such men the breeders must always look for the market It all gets back to the fundamental statement that racing is a sport and a sport for those well able to fcay for their fun funRacing Racing should never be a business venture either in the conduct of a stable or the con ¬ duct of a race track The sport must always come first and it can only thrive when it is conducted and supported by sportsmen of
