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Here and There on the Turf Handicapping Further Con ¬ sidered sideredMiddle Middle Weights Most Fre ¬ quent Winners WinnersJoyners Joyners Graded Handicap Commended A further study of the handicaps of 1922 reveals that of the 156 that were considered there were more of them won under 115 pounds than any other weight At that as ¬ signment there were ten winners during the year There were nine winners at both the 109 and 110 pound impost while eight of the winners carried 118 and a like number won with 112 in the saddle But there were eight that won under 104 pounds Then this is offset by the fact that seven each won at 116 and 117 pounds while six of the win ¬ ners took up 120 and 122 pounds each though there were also six which won at the light impost of 106 pounds poundsFive Five of the winners took up 125 and a like number won under 105 four won at the weights 107 113 114 119 and 132 and there were three to score under 102 103 108 130 and 133 The other winners ranged from a low of 91 pounds to the 143 that Motor Cop carried to victory in a sprint at Tijuana TijuanaThese These figures show that all through the year in the handicaps considered there were only seven winners at weights less than 104 pounds There were twentysix of the winners that carried weights ranging from 104 to 108 pounds Then in the division from 109 to 115 pounds there were fortysix winnsrs There were forty winners that took up weights rang ¬ ing from 116 to 122 pounds and beyond that figure the five winners that carried 125 pounds is the only remarkable showing of the statis AU of this would tend to show that the handicaps more frequently go to the horses carrying about the middle weight than any other weight division It is probable that the same showing could be made in any year for it is the history of handicaps that the mid die weights are invariably more successful than the top or the bottom weights As a matter of fact the light weights have always cut scant figure in handicaps and that is easily explained So often handicaps arc cluttered up with horses that have no demonstrated right to be entered at all that such light weights have no place The handicapper will do his best to make the weight a fair one but DO scale will bring some horses within hail ¬ ing distance They are selling platers and not a few of them would be raced as such in dif ¬ ferent hands But there always will be sports ¬ men who consider all their geese swans and would scorn to show their silks in a selling race Such as these horses make up the light ¬ weight division in many of the handicaps They do not belong and it is small wonder that so few horses carrying less than 100 pounds win handicaps The A J Joyncr suggestion of graded handi ¬ caps would be a good scheme to take care of just such horses They would soon find their level and at the same time there would be no occasion to start them in selling races Mr Joyners graded handicaps would be rated on the basis of the earnings of the horse This would not be grading done by the handicapper himself He would still have the opportunity to fix the weights to be carried but the eligi ¬ bility of the horse to this or that grade would be fixed by what he had accomplished in money earnings Such handicaps would re ¬ lieve the other or top handicaps of this dead wood that is merely in the way of the best horses Another thing that would be accom ¬ plished by these graded handicaps is that it should in a great measure do away with excessive weights on the best horses There should be ample latitude between say ten pounds over the scale for a maximum weight down to the lowest impost Any horse at the bottom that would not have a chance to beat the top weight at ten pounds over the scale can hardly belong in the handicap handicapThere There have been many fine heroic perform ¬ ances under crushing weights They have been bright spots in racing but too often these bruising races under excessive burdens have broken down champions that might other ¬ wise have raced on to greater deeds deedsWhen When Whisk Broom II carried 139 pounds to victory in that nevertobeforgotten Sub ¬ urban Handicap of 1913 it was a magnifi ¬ cent exhibition of all that is best in the thor ¬ oughbred but Whisk Broom II was never afterwards brought to the post He was able to carry that burden a mile and a quarter and race faster than any horse has before or since but it brought his brilliant career to an abrupt end endMany Many another good horse has gone the way of Whisk Broom II by reason of the weight that has been piled on his back to make room for some worthless animal that had no right ¬ ful place in the handicap in the beginning beginningThe The champion has every right to ciijoy the fruits of his proud position but with no limit to the weight that may be imposed few champions can endure for any length of time With the graded handicaps it would be possible to work down in the handicap raihr than up The best horse of the year should never be required to keep up more than ten pounds over the scale in any race of a mile or greater distance This would be an ample handicap to give every horse that had any right in the race a winning chance Handicaps made under such a latitude of weights would give the champions a chance to last longer It is not likely they would win any more races than they do under existing conditions of the handicap but there would be less chance to break them down and banish them from rac ¬ ing ingToo Too often when a horse becomes a four yearold his usefulness is all but gone He has entered the ranks of the handicap horses and he must be sturdy indeed if he is to go on under the weights that may be imposed in the rich races for which he remains eligible eligibleThe The thoroughbred horse should be able to take up any reasonable weight and race over suitable distance but all of that may be dem ¬ onstrated without imposing burdens that only a superhorse can carry without disaster Yfe have had the superhorses that have gone on winning under heavy burdens and there will be others Man o War was one whose races suggested an ability to take up almost any sort of weight but Man o War was not cam ¬ paigned long enough to make these efforts tell on him Exterminator is another that year after year has been taking up excessive weight successfully but at the end of 1922 it was beginning to tell on the remarkable son of McGee and Fair Empress This old fellow had legs of iron and a heart as big as all outdoors He still has that same heart but the legs are beginning to show the effects of the long campaigning under the big weights He will come back in 1923 but it would be helpful if there was a limit to the top of the handicap if he is to continue his remarkable career successfully
