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F I Here and There on the Turf I General Thatchers Easy Race. Benefit of Such a Race in i Fitting a Horse. t Marylands New Claiming i Rule. New York View of Illinois Bill. ] l Preston Burch did not set much of a task for General Thatcher when he started him in the five and a half furlongs dash at Bowie Monday and in that h? showed excellent judgment. No matter how fit a horse may be from his morning exercises and the long work that he may have gone through, it is actual racing that tells the tale. It is there that he is tested and it is there that a real idea may be had of just how fit he has become. One race is worth many workouts to almost any horse and it does not do to ask too much of one that has had only its private work to i fit it for the ordeal. To have a race "under ] his belt" counts for much, if the horse is ready ] to race. If it is not ready, it may retard ] improvement and do harm. But if its not ] asked for a supreme effort it will do it good. , Trainer Burch gave General Thatcher just , such a race in the Promenade Purse and it | may b? looked upon as an important part of his Preakness Stakes preparation. There will be opportunities for other like race enough before the big Maryland Jockey Club stake race and the work should be beneficial to the colt, General Thatcher has shown that he is a good colt. He looks the part with his magnificent size and faultless conformation. Now it seeni3 to be only a question of how far he will run. Burch has reason to beli?ve he will make good over the distances of the three-year eld stake races and he is a good judge. The value of racing to fit a horse, as com pared with training gallops only, was exemplified in the running of the Inaugural Handicap. Beth Broomster and Fair Phan torn were starting for the first time this year. Both Fred Hopkins and Kay Spence have been working on their charges for a consid erable time with the Inaugural Handicap in view and each appeared to be ready, but the running of the race showed that each needed I it. Setting Sun had been campaigned through 1 the winter at New Orleans and was in hard I and fit condition. That tcld the tale in the closing strides of the seven eighths. Both Broomster and Fair Phantom are fast. • Kach showed an abundance of speed in the race, but in the last eighth each tired badly and it was there that the hard and fit horso ? triumphed. It is well nigh a sure thing that t under the same weight arrangement and over r the same distance Setting Sun would now be ? beaten by both. But Setting Sun is evi - dently better than he has been rated and 1 rails for consideration. In HIO" Race King came up to Belmont t Tark hard and fit from active campaigning ; and his condition permuted him to run a i i ] ] ] ] , , | I 1 I • ? t r ? - 1 t ; a i dead heat with Sysonby in the Metropolitan Handicap. This same Sysonby was one of the best racers that ever bore the colors of the late James R. Keene and, while Race King was a tough little campaigner, his owner could not have hoped for any such fame for him in midseason after Sysonby had been brought to his true form by actual racing. James Rowr has always been a past master in having his horses ready the first time out, but this was one case when condition told its tale and the same may be said of the Inaugural Handicap Monday. It is taking the horsemen at Bowie a little while to become familiar with the new claiming rule of the Maryland State Racing Commission. This rule eliminates the auction clauses and provides that the horse may be claimed for his entered price. This makes the claiming price a higher one than under the eld conditions that permitted the protection of a horse and also required that in making claim the purse value should b? included in the claim. The trainers cannot understand that they have been racing horses for 00 and 00 that must now be entered to be sold for from ,500 to ,000. It amounts to the same thing, as far as the seling price is concerned, but there is no chance to pro tect over the amount that ■ named. The claiming races Monday provided that horses should be claimed for ,809 and three horses changed hands during the afternoon. This valuation, under the old rule, would have been the same if the horses had been entered for 00, for the first money in each of the races in question amounted to 09. AH of this will become familiar to horsemen i before long and the new rule may become popular and effective in the government of : such races. The text of the new Illinois racing bill I created considerable interest among eastern 1 horsemen and the general opinion there ap pears to be that it is an excellent measure. Some surprise was expressed that it was not 1 I presented before this time. In its various sec tions for the protection and propt r govern nient of the turf, the measure ■ thought there to have been carefully thought out and it I contains the best features of the other racing , laws of the country.
