Here and There on the Turf: The Sensational Sarazen. Betless Racing. Juvenile Match Race. the Mighty Have Fallen. a Lesson for Breeders, Daily Racing Form, 1923-11-07

article


view raw text

Here and There on the Turf The Sensational Sarazen. Betless Bacing. Juvenile Match Kace. The Mighty Have Fallen. A Lesson For Breeders. For the second time in his brilliant unbeaten career Mrs. Vanderbilts remarkable two-year-old gelding Sarazen has beaten older horses over the mile distance. This score came when the son of High Time and Rush Box was such, an easy winner of the Pimlico Serial Weight-for-Age Race No. 2 over the three-year-old General Thatcher and the six-year-old Blazes. It was the tenth score for this wonderful juvenile and, like all of his other races, resulted in the easiest sort of a victory. He took the track from the start and just romped along in front without at any time being fully extended. In. his previous raca against older horses at Laurel Sarazen ran his mile in 1:38 to easily beat Flagstaff, Bigheart and Blazes in that race as in his race Monday, and as a matter of fact all his races he took the track from the start and never for a stride left the result in doubt. A horse that accomplishes what has been accomplished by Sarazen with such ridiculous ease should last a long time. At no time has he really been asked to run in any of ths ten times he has romped home in front, and he races over the mile route with the same case that he galloped five furlongs at Hawthorne when he was first sent to the post. Tanforan is first of the winter tracks to open its gates and the success that came to the opening is an evidence of what may be expected through the long winter months. At Tanforan the racing is a sporting venture that will undoubtedly cost its promoters considerable money, but at the same time it should bs money well expended if it proves an opening wedge to bringing the racing back to California. It was in California that the turf flourished bountifully for many years and there are still sportsmen enough among the natives to strive earnestly for the rehabilitation of the sport. Some of the best thoroughbreds first saw the light of day in California. It is a natural breeding ground for the thor oughbrcd horse, and it is fitting that there should be racing where there is the production. It has always been admitted that there must be some method of wagering that financial success of any race meeting, and that is the only reason for the Tanforan meeting costing its promoters. The sportsmen are conducting a betless meeting, but they were well aware that it could not be made to pay its way. They generously subscribed enough to carry on this meeting, and just what is going on at Tanforan is the offering of races for the entertainment of those to whom it is the highest form of entertainment. Califcrnians do not need any racing education. That is, the older generation do not have to learn the sport. Long since they knew the thrills of the race course, and it is Bimply a revival of those old thrills. It is to be hoped the fine courage of the sportsmen who are conducting this race meeting at Tanforan will bear fruit and eventually result in the restoration of racing to California on a paying basis. That is, with adequate laws that will permit of wagering in some manner. There is still a chance that a special will be arranged for the two-year-olds Sarazen and Wise Counsellor. Colonel Matt J. Winn has promised that if Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mr. Ward wish to have such a special he would gladly add 0,000 for the meeting at Churchill Downs and suggested that they fix the conditions to make it ,000 a side, which with the added money would give the race a real im-Iportance. As a matter of fact at this season of the year a 0,000 prize is a particularly liberal one, and it is possible that a meeting will be arranged. Max Hirsch has signified a willingness to send Sarazen against all comsrs and, in fact, he has been racing this wonderful gelding against the cider horses with remarkable success. Wise Counsellor looks like any other to him, and the son of High Time is always ready for the colors. Wise Counsellor has proved himself and his victory in the Queen City Handicap left no doubt of his readiness. It would be a great match and should be brought about. Zev and My. Own are both eligible for the Pimlico Cup, to be run next Monday, and it would be well if they are brought together again in that long test. It is hardly to bs expected that they will be raced, and even should both go to the post they will not be treated with the awe with which they were regarded before the Latonia Championship. In Memoriam thoroughly dispelled the belief that Zev was unbeatable, and the race also afforded a new estimate of My Own. It is probable that both of these colts are capable of a better showing than that of the Latonia race, but they have been taken back a few pegs, and should each be sent to the post in the Pimlico Cup it will not scare out some of the sturdy long-distance running horses of a more mature age. When one considers the case of Sarazen this year it teaches the breeders a lesson. By reason of his being unsexed this great gelding has not attained anything like the fame that should be his, even though he has met all comers and won all ten of the races in which he has been sent to the post, and it was not alone the gelding of the son of High Time and Rush Box that limited his opportunities. He was not named in many of the early closing stakes for which he was eligible. Saturday Edward R. Bradleys Beau Butler, undoubtedly a high-class colt, won 4,030 by finishing first in the Pimlico Futurity. Monday Sarazen earned ,750 when he baat older horses over the same distance. Beau Butler has not shown he is a Sarazen, but he was well engaged by Mr. Bradley, and that astute sportsman is reaping the harvest of his forethought. St. James took down 4,810 when he won the Futurity at Belmont Park for George D. Widener, and Diogenes earned 6,800 for Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords when he was first home in the Hopeful. Sarazen was not eligible to any one of these great prizes and there were other princely ones in which he had no chance to share. Sarazen has never bsen beaten. Each one of these great winners has tasted defeat, but each one of them will probably top the winning figures of the juvenile that at this time appears to ba the champion of .his age division.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1923110701/drf1923110701_2_2
Local Identifier: drf1923110701_2_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800