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Here and There on the Turf J b Vigils Pine, but Unexpected c i Victory. Racing of 1923 Now in Full Bloom. Three-Tear-Old Champ ion Not Now Visible. l Star Two -Year-Olds Still Undisclosed. i The victory of Vigil in the Preakness Stakes is hardly surprising, although not expected He had been racing well and consistently this spring and evidently had more than an out-siders chance. His victory is illustrative of the patent fact that three year-old racing of , this year is of the most open character. The , Kentucky Derby may easily furnish a result akin to that of the Preakness Stakes. Vast i sums have been invested in support of its preferred candidates, largely on last years ; form, when they were two-year-olds. That form was of a doubtful texture and this year three year-old form may be and probably will , be from the cloth. Quite probably the willing layers will keep most of that money through the victory of some now underrated eligible. Luckily for the anxious ones we will soon know all about it. Vigil will have no weight advantage in the Derby, but that may not prevent him from repeating. With the close of the Pimlico meeting and the opening of Churchill Downs the racing season can be said to be in full swing, and although the weather conditions at times have been anything but pleasant for the new racing year the patronage thus far has testified to the well-established popularity of the turf. The attendance has been surprisingly large at all of the race courses. It is anticipated that Kentucky Derby day will furnish the record attendance of the year. Interest in other states attaches to the bills before the Illinois legislature that se;k to give the thoroughbred a firm footing in the state. It is greatly desired that there should be legislation that will make racing here secure. In the meantime Chicago is assured of its racing at Hawthorne, even though the bills do not come to a happy conclusion. Their passage would mean one more outlet for the breeding farms, the enhancing of the value of the thoroughbred horse and a new incentive to breed the best horses in the world. With the running of the Preakness Stakes there was an immediate problem settled, but nothing decisive was obtained on the standing of the three-year-olds of the year. The Kentucky Derby, to be run next Saturday over its mile and a quarter distance, is still to be decided and there is always a chance that there 1 will be a revision of the opinions that were based on a study of the Preakness Stakes. Then after the Kentucky Derby itself there is the Belmont Stakes, last of the three big races. " Possibly it will bring a new element to the front among the three-year-olds of 1923. These races mean much to the turf and as much to breeding interests, but in racing it does not do to hail any three year-old champion too soon 1 in any year. It is just as well to go slow in 1 May in order that one does not have to "eat crow" in September. The three year-old that t would win all three of these great races would 1 be hard to catch in the matter of money won " M T ■ , D " St h L L c e a E J b c i l i , , i ; , and should be the best horse, but, at least, one f should wait until all three have been decided. The chances are that it will be a long time before a three-year-old good enough to capture this American triple crown crops up. — — — — — ra Racing thus far has not shown any out- 19 standing two-year-old development. There 1 j_ have been several good ones uncovered at 2— __ Lexington, Pimlico and Jamaica that may 3 *~ 4— 4— later on, when the big races for two-year-olds 5 5- come along, develop championship form. Sev- 6 6- 7-eral of these young racers are of sturdy mold and can run fast. Many of them still have much to learn in racing manners and until 1 1_ this is mastered it will be hard to pin faith to 2- 2 3-any 3— one of them. What is interesting to 4 4- know is that the crop of this year appears to 5 . be up to those of other years and before the 6 closing days at Churchill Downs and Belmont 7_ 7— Park it will be possible to talk more definitely comparative merit of the new thoroughbreds. 1 Horsemen concerned have blamed the weath- 2- er for scant entries • that have been made at the Jamaica meeting, but that is not the real 3 3- 4-reason for races fading to fill as they should. 5 5-It is ever the same way at New York early in the year. Horsemen there are selfishly prone 6 to wait for a soft spot and in waiting they 7 7- usually lose many a chance, for when they finally decide to send their horses to the post 1 they find that better ones than theirs have been waiting for the same spot. It was little 2 3 3- , short of pitiful Friday to see only three go to * the post in a five-eighths dash for maiden two- 5 5. year-olds of the selling plater variety. Such , 6 conditions suited all too many of the youngsters 7 that have been galloping at the various Long Island training grounds. But scant concern 1 1 for the good of the racing association was shown in keeping them in their barns and allowing but three to go to the post for a fast 3 ,000 purse. 5
