view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Two Pimlico Fixtures. Good Horses Eligible. Havanas Good Prospects. The Bowie Meeting. There are two races of the Maryland Jockey Club meeting at Pimlico that never fail to arouse great interest. These are long-distance events that make a thorough test of all that is best in the thoroughbred and have produced some of the most famous turf battles ever seen over the old course. The Bowie Handicap is vt a mile and a half and will be decided Tuesday, while the Pimlico Cup is at two miles and a quarter and is the feature of the eesing day of the meeting, November 12 Each has an added money value of 0,000. Last year Captain Alcock was the winner of both of these rich prizes and is the only horse that has taken both. In the other three decisions of the Pimlico Cup Exterminator was winner on each occasion. The Bowie Handicap is an old institution and was first won by Fitz Herbert in 1909. The fact that each of these races is under handicap conditions gives horses of every class a chance, but they are races that cannot be won by a bad horse. H. Alterman, whose Homestretch was the winner of the Jockey Club Cup at Belmont Park, is one of the notable entries in each of these handicaps which will surely go to the post, barring accident. Edward Sietas is firm in the belief that in Homestretch he has the champion long-distance running three-year-old of the world and when the international match was arranged he bitterly bemoaned the fact that he could not have a chance at Papyrus with the son of Bard of Hope. Then there is Hal Price Headleys Chacolet, the five-year-old daughter of St. Amant, that looms up big as a Kentucky hope. There are many more fashionable eligibles for these longdistance prizes, both in the East and in Kentucky, but these two are mentioned as notable developments of the year. Both were considered as of the selling plater variety, but Chacolet by her victory over good ones in the Kentucky Special and Homestretch by taking the Jockey Club Gold Cup each came into new importance for long and trying gallops. In the list of three-year-old eligibles for both of these big features arc found the names of Zev, My Own, Rialto, Enchantment, Cherry Pie and others that have not attained a like prominence. Others of good class are eligible, but have gone amiss and will not be seen at the post. Fred Musantes remarkable longdistance running mare My Dear, a sister to My Own, is also eligible for both, while several st:eplechasers have been made eligible. One of these is J. S. Cosdens Dan IV., winner of the Manley Memorial Steeplechase Saturday last at Pimlico and unbeaten in his three starts in this country. Another is Damask, winner of the Manly Memorial of 1922 for the Greentree Stable. Then White Satin and Double Tip, two steeplechasers that race for the Queen City Stable, are in the list, and altogether it is probable that both the Bowie Handicap and Pimlico Cup of this year will -bring together larger fields than have ever before raced in them. Ths announcement that there will be a meeting of at least one hundred days ,of racing at Oriental Park, Cuba, next winter was received with gratification by many horsemen. This Cuban racing has a wonderful appeal to many who have spent the cold months at Oriental Park, and there had been some apprehension when no definite announcement had been made of the meeting. Now that it is assured with an opening on Thanksgiving Day plans may be definitely made by those who propose racing in that sunny clime. The promise for the sport is excellent and was worth waiting for, with ,000 the minimum in purse distribution each day. No purse will have a lesser value than 00 and the handicaps of Sl.OOQ and ,500 will be attractive to the better-class horses. Oriental Park is sure to obtain its fu:l share of stables that race through the winter months, and Havana will attract many a sportsman to whom racing is so essential. With the promise of several of the trainers now at Pimlico that they will finish out the Maryland season at the Bowie meeting the chances never were brightar for the bringing together of a better class of horses than ever before. The Southern Maryland Association has been particularly liberal in the program that has been framed for the coming meeting, and there are many opportunities that will induce the attendance of the best horses in training. This Bowie meeting has steadily grown in importance until now it is a vital part of the Maryland racing scheme. It is Bowie that annually welcomes the thoroughbreds back to Maryland in April and it is Bowie that rings down the curtain in the fell. The dates are the least desirable on account of being at the extreme seasons, but there are few more popular tracks and few more successful.
