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Here and There on the Turf Closing at Laurel. Rich Jumping Stake. Queen City Handicap. Bowies Fine Prospect. Racing at Laurel will be brought to a close with the well-known and justly famed blaze of glory, if the offerings of the Maryland Stata Fair measure up to their present promise. Friday afternoon there comes the three-quarters special for 5,000 that will bring together Urs. Vanderbilts Sarazen and Edward F. Simms great filly Happy Thoughts. Then on Saturday the 5,000 Washington Handi-cip will be run over its mile and a quarter distancs and will bring but the best horses of the handicap division that are still in training. In this special race between Sarazen and Happy Thoughts the weights are 118 pounds for the gelding and 115 pounds for. the filly. Both are unbeaten and each has won every start in a fashion to promise a rare battle when they come together. A previous effort to bring the pair together fell through for the reason that James McClelland, on behalf of Mr. Simms, insisted that a condition of the race be that the track should be fast. At that time it was natural that such a condition should be required for Happy Thoughts. Sarazen had proved himself in the soft going, but it was not known whether or not the filly would show to advantage over other than a fast track. Since that time Happy Thoughts has shown in private that she is capable of running well in muddy going, so the present special was arranged, and no race of two-year-olds this year is of more importance than this meeting of Friday. The Washington Handicap was first run in 1911, but it was not until last year, when it was won by Samuel D. Ridd!es Oceanic, that it had its present rich value. When Oceanic was first before Lucky Hour, Paragon II., Exterminator, Captain Alcock, Nedna, Paul Jones and Polly Ann he took just 3,470 as the winners share. The renewal this year gives every promise of a richer net value, and it will be a fitting close to the October racing at Laurel. Weights have been announced for the 0,-000 Manly Memorial Steeplechase, which is an opening feature of the Pimlico meeting of the Maryland Jockey Club Tuesday. From the eighty-eight that were named it is assured a big field will go to the post in the renewal of this rich cross-country event. Sea Tale, the seven-year-old daughter of Sea King and Anecdote, is at the top of the list with 160 pounds as her burden, and from that top the weights drop to 155 pounds, under which weight both Brigadier General and Bullseye are handicapped. The two imported jumpers, Dan TV. and Not Much, with Duettiste, are handicapped at 153 pounds, and these comprise the top eghts for the big prize. Duettiste was the winner of both the 1919 and the 1920 renewals of the Manly, and-in his last-named triumph he carried the highest weight ever carried to victory in its . history when he shouldered 173 pounds. Last year the race fell to a lightweight whan it was won by Damask with only 137 in the saddle. This year Damask is asked to take up 146 pounds. The Manly is over a two and a half miles course and from its first running in 1916 it has always .been one of the most coveted of the cross-country races of the year. Trainers have been pointing their best for this renewal, and there is every assurance that the field will be both a large and a capable one. While the Washington Handicap is being decided at Laurel Saturday there -will be run at Latonia the Queen City Handicap, for two-year-olds, at a mile. This is a race with 0,-000 added, and Wise Counsellor will be the top weight under 125 pounds. It is just a bit disappointing that Edward F. Simms Happy Thoughts will be unabh to keep her engagement. She was handicapped at equal weights with Wise Counsellor, and his performances have stamped him as the best of the two-year-olds that have raced., in Kentucky. Happy Thoughts will have a chance to prove her superiority over Sarazen Friday at Laurel, .but that precludes all chance for her starting in the Queen City Handicap. Many of the good judges who have seen Wise Counsellor in all of his races pronounce him the master of both Happy Thoughts and Saxaxen, but there is little chance for that question being settled this year by a meeting between the three. Wise Counsellor -had no Saratoga, engagements, and for . that, reason he was not raced in the East. Happy Thoughts had fevv opportunities, but she jvas brought, on and made good, just as was predicted. Sarazen has had limited chances, but he and Happy Thoughts have their chance to fight it out, and then remains Wise Counsellor, provided he wins the Queen City, to definitely fix the two-year-old crown for the year always excepting George D . Wideners St. James, winner of the Futurity at Belmont Park. He has gone into retirement for the year. It has not been a remarkable racing season for either the two-year-olds or the three-year-olds, but with Zev, My Own and In Msmoriam in the three-year-old division, and Sarazen, Happy Thoughts, St. James and Wise Counsellor in the two-year-old division it could have been worse. It is at the Bowie meeting of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Association that the Maryland racing comes to an end. It is there that the long campaign in the East both begins and ends each jear. This fall there will be eleven days of the sport conducted at Bowie, and it is to begin November 20 and continue until December 1. From a modest beginning Jamss F. OHara and his associates at Bowie have built up this track to tremendous importance, and for the coming meeting there are four big stakes that are down for decision. The first of these is the Prince George Handicap, with ,500 added, over a mile and an eighth distance. It is the opening day feature, and with the other stakes the entries are to close November 10, a late date that makes certain the starting of a big percentage of those that are nominated. , The Southern Maryland Handicap is a mile ftir all ages, to be run November 2.4, and it hasj 0,000 added. The Thanksgiving Handicap, to be run on November 29, is another 0,000 offering over the mile and three-sixteenths distance, and it is for three-year-olds and over. The remaining stake is the Endurance Handicap, a mile for two-year-clds, with ,500 added, and it will be decided December 1, the closing day of the meeting. Such stakes have given Bowie an importance that induces the big stables to keep their best horses in training right up to tha close, and this makes certain a better class in the overnight races than is the general rule in the late fall races.
