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Here and There on the Turf ===== i Impediment of Unseasonable 1 Weather. Eastern Horses Needing Warmth in the Air. Havre de Grace Two-Year- Olds May Be Good. . Racing had had a severe test in Maryland this spring. All recent cold weather records I have been broken for the middle of April. The backward spring has made it impossible to have many horses ready for the colors. This weather condition has been so disagreeable that the popularity of the sport itself was on trial. It was anything but pleasant at Bowie on the closing day, with snow, hail and rain at intervals all afternoon, while for the opening of the Havre de Grace meeting, " there was winter chilliness in the air. Th? racing met all these drawbacks in a manner to leave no doubt of its high popularity. The crowds were surprisingly large for both, the last day at Bowie and the first day of the Havre de Grace meeting. The turf is swinging into a year that prom ises bountiful success. There can b? little more e cold weather and with the coming of the c warmth, there will be an improvement in both racing and attendance. Not that any especial :! improvement in the attendance is needed, for r it has been surprisingly large from the beginning, •- but the racing will improve as the e stars of last year make their appearance. They y will be shown before long and, reports from a various training quarters, suggest that most t of them will be ready to vindicate the form ti that was shown in 1922. Others that by v reason of sickness last year, did not ever reach h racing form will come back big and robust it and with speed that will place them where e they belong. The location of both Bowie and Havre de e Grace is such that only racing could bring g out such crowds. It requires enticing sport i to induce patrons to make the long trip from n Baltimore, Washington, Wilmington, Philadelphia i- and New York. But great throngs ;s make the trip daily and one never hears a a complaint. It is th? allurement of racing, L that makes such attendance possible from Q these far away points, and it is a lure that it endures. Where the Havre Grace meeting promises to present much of interest is in the racing g . of the new two year olds. The two year eld division is a big one there and on what these young racers have shown in their preparatory work some of them are probably of better T class than any that raced at New Orleans, or Tijuana during the winter. At New Orleans, Worthmore and Black iold were easily best, while Buster Keaton and Kinjr Heather ranked as the particular ir two year old stars of the winter and spring ■ racing in the far West. The first field of two year olds that went to the post at Havre de Grace was a decidedly good one and, taking a line through them, it would appear that it is a good crop that u wil! be .-t riving for the big baby races. It is is safe to suggest that there are far better ones •s in training than of those that have raced, but tt in appearance this first Havre Grace field was is a good one. Then going on to the older i horses the Harford Handicap would tend to o show that the handicap division will be up to o the standard of other years. Of course a a u is is •s tt is i to o to o a a — ■ three quarters dash does not tell much of the handicap division, but it surely is worth while to know that such a mare as Careful is com- ing back to the races in fine end again. It is gratifying to know that Blazes promises to have another year of usefulness before him, that Exterminator is the same honest, depend able and high class racer.
