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1 Here and There 2 3 on the Turf , i Cheering Prospects East and West. All Tokens Point to Memorable Racing. 1 Meeting of Tryster and Snob II. in Expectation. 3 4 Blackford Sale a Barometer 5 of Prices. i With the opening of the racing season in Kentucky and the running of the Ashland Oaks at Lexington, the new racing year is fairly 1 ] launched. Most of the turf interest has naturally been centered in Maryland since the beginning of April, but now the midd!e West will take its place and from an auspicious be-ginning great things may confid;ntly be ex pected. The tremendous success that has attended the racing at Bowie and Havre de Grace tells of what is in store and the sport shows every promise of reaching its crest wave of success in 1923. For its opening day Lexington offered a program that was intensely interesting, while at the same time the card at Havre de Grace was one of the best that was ever presented by the Harford Association. There will be no lack of good horses both East and West this year and, with the liberal programs that have been prepared, there will be an inevitable boom in racing and the breeding of thoroughbred horses. Racing is also back in New York. The United Hunt Association has begun the long New York season and, with a continuation of the racing Tuesday, the stage will be all set for what is to be offered by the Metropolitan Jockey Club at Jamaica. The Paumonok Handicap, which starts the Jamaica meeting off, never had a more representative list of eligibles. Training operations suggest that it will be a large field that will go to the post for this three-quarters dash. Of the older horses that are ready for this race much of the interest attaches to Tryster, winner last year, and J. S. Cosdens French four-year-old Snob H. Tryster has had his preparation at Belmont Park and the manner in which he has been going along suggests that he is even better than last spring when, carrying 125 pounds, he won from Smoke Screen. Careful, On Watch, Sennings Park, Audacious, Little Chief and Black Rascal. The son of Peter Pan and Tryst may have better horses opposing him this year, but on all he • has shown he is as fit as he can be made and 1 he does not appear to have been harshly ■ treated when required to take up 128 pounds. Sncb II. was prepared at Pimlico after William Garth brought him from the farm. He ■ has done about all that has been asked from i him. Early in the spring it was decided that ; he would be sent to the post in the Paumonok : Handicap and, while the winning of this opening stake race is the big thing, what will be ! of almost equal importance will be whether • or not he beats Tryster, the 1922 winner. It t is a sporting rivtlry of horse against horse in i the race and it seems certain that one or both i of them will at least finish in a place. This i • 1 ■ ■ i ; : ! • t i i i side challenge in the race lends an additional interest to the Paumonok Handicap and many horsemen have taken sides in the friendly rivalry. It is interesting to note that Walter S. Vos-burgh has rated the four-year-olds Kai-Sang and Lucky Hour at the same notch of 129 pounds at the top of the handicap. These two sterling colts were not brought together last year and all winter long there were many arguments as to their comparative excellence. ! Evidently Mr. Vosburgh can find nothing between them and it would be pleasing if both should be sent to the post in the Paumonok Handicap. Of course, a three quarters dash is not conclusive, but it would serve at this time to give a preliminary fine on their speed. Zev, from the Rancocas Stable, is rated as the best of the three year old cligiblrs to the Paumonok Handicap, just as Frank Bryan rated him best in his weights for the Jennings Handicap at Pimlico. But Bryan asked Zev to take up the hard weight of 118 pounds and run against older horses. Mr. Vosburgh has fixed his weight at 109 pounds, and that appears to be more in keeping with a fair handicap at this time of the year. Wilderness is rated just two pounds back of Zev and Bud Lerner is next in the handicap at 10G pounds. The?e seem to be the best of the three-year-old divi- sion that might be considered probable start ers and they may show speed that will keep the older horses exceedingly busy. . In the sal? of the horses from the estate of the late G. L. Blackford, which was conducted in the Havre de Grace paddock Friday, there was further evidence of the present prosperity of the turf. Twelve thoroughbreds brought a i total of 6,200, an average of more than ,500, and the collection could hardly be con sidered a remarkable one, although some in i the string had shown good class, notably the four-year-old Maximac, a son of Golden Maxim t and Lily Mac, by Plaudit. This horse won i the Thanksgiving Handicap at Bowie last fall I when he beat a remarkably good band. He ? went to Commander J. K. L. Ross for 2,000. It is only turf prosperity that makes such ! prices possible and the same horses in duller days of the sport would not bring a third of [ their present prices. It is natural that stakes and purses fix race horse values. The liberal sums that are of- , fered at this time by the various associations ? ! make any horse with a possible winning chance : a ,500 or a ,000 bargain. This Blackford 1 j sale, coming at this time of the year, is an- ■ I other convincing expression of the confidence the horsemen have in the stability and pros- I perity of the greatest of all sports. ? : 1 ■ On the eve of the opening of the Kentucky and New York racing seasons the prospects could hardly be better and the thoroughbred values realized at the Blackford sale constitute an unfailing barometer. It means that along in August there will be high values estab-- fished for the yearlings to be sold at public auction.
