view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Jarvis Makes a Hit. International Competition. Suggestions for Next Year. For a Cushioned Track. Now that it is all over racing will return to normalcy. We have enjoyed the visit of our English guests, and where could be found a better number of fine, upstanding gentlemen than the sportsmen in the retinue of Papyrus? Basil Jarvis made an instant impression by his courteous reception of those who wished to see the great colt. He talked freely of- his charge from the first, and his was a stable that was absolutely free from secrete. Mr. Jarvis gave the handsome son of Tracery a remarkable preparation for the first of the international matches when the many handicaps were taken into consideration. By this it is not meant that Papyrus did not take kindly to his new surroundings and to the dirt track. It was evident in his gallops that the going, though strange to him, was not what could be called a handicap. But Mr. Jarvis and his company came to a strange racing ground after a long ocean voyage, and the trip was made to appear discouraging before he left his native shores. The making of the match was widely criticized and the general prediction in the English newspapers was that the son of Tracery was up against a handicap he would never overcome. These opinions must have caused Mr. Jarvis a bit of worry, whether or not he would so admit, but with all of these unpleasant predictions he brought Papyrus over and went along skillfully with his big task of making him ready for the match that was to make turf history. The American sportsmen smoothed the way for the visitors, but there was no amount of smoothing the way that could wipe out the loudly expressed opinions of many of his native sportsmen. Altogether the International match, if it accomplished nothing else, gave an excellent "line," and a new one, on some of the men of the British turf that have hitherto been held in some esteem on this side of the Atlantic. It also gave a "line" on the real sportsmen of England, and after all they are the only sportsmen that count. It is devoutly to be hopsd that it is only the beginning of international matches. They should come every year of racing, and the French and the Australian turf should be represented in these great contests. Such racing means much for the sport, and much more than merely the better relationship between the countries where horsss are raced. It means that further popularizing of racing with many who never before knew any of the delights of the greatest of all sports. In that vast crowd that thronged Belmont Park Saturday there were thousands that had never before seen a horse race. They probably would have gone to their graves without ever knowing the thrill had it not been for th2 coming of Papyrus to challenge the best American three-year-old of the year. It was the appeal of the big event that brought them to Belmont Park. Few indeed with red blood in their veins can resist that appeal after once having the thrill, and the race made many a stanch friend for the turf. We who are of the turf imagine we have a tremendous following, but as a matter of fact there is still much missionary work to be done on this side of the Atlantic before the turf will be anything like the national pastime of the people. It is such races as the International match that will bring racing to its proper place in America, and for this reason more than any other is the International race the biggest thing that has ever been conducted on the American turf. While on the subject of the International race it would be well if in the future a special test is considered necessary to determine on a defender the test be insisted on. Of course, this year Robert L. Gerrys suggestion of the International match was acted upon so late m the year that the National Trial Sweepstakes, decided upon as the test, had to be crowded in when natural contenders for the role of defender had conflicting engagements. The National Trial Sweepstakes, if run at all, had to bz run too close to other important races that had closed long before, and to start in it meant the sacrifice of other older and richer prizes. Next year it would be possible to so arrange racing programs that this same conflict would not occur, and if there is to be one. test to decide upon the defender it must be insisted upon and no other one added to the test of eligibility. Still another lesson was taught by -the International match. - That lesson is that the American tracks are too hard, at least that is the opinion of many of the best American trainers, while it was the unanimous opinion of the English- visitors. Track construction in this country has been with a view of breaking records, and, while many were broken, many horses were broken down by running over the hard surfaces. With the coming of Papyrus, for his benefit the Belmont Park going was almost entirely changed. The surface was cut up until a new and deeper cushion had been obtained, and even with that more grateful surface for the galloping horse the Englishmen still remarked on the hardness of the track. American trainers that is, many of the most prominent commended the change in the cushion, and if it was left to these men to fit the horses for the races they would be unanimous in voting for the same deep cushion that was provided for Papyrus to gallop over. The breaking of records after all means nothing, and when records are made at the expense of the breaking down of horses they become a real menace. Our horses would possibly last longer and race to greater fame if this craze for record-breaking race courses did not exist. The horse is the thing, and whether he runs in 1:35 over a -pasteboard track or in 1 :38 over a track that has a grateful cushion makes no difference. But if the 1 :35 over the pasteboard track breaks him down, then it makes a great difference, and the 1 :38 track is vastly to be preferred.
