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Here and There on the Turf Kentuckys Red Letter Day. My Dears Career. Churchill Downs Meeting. Harry Page, Gentleman Rider. Kentucky had its "day Saturday when In Mernoriam was an easy winner from Zev and My Own in the running of the Latonia Championship Stakes, while Edward It. Bradleys Beau Butler was taking the rich Pimlico Futurity in Maryland. Tuesday Virginia came into her own and put it over on Kentucky when Fred Musantes My Dear, a sister to My Own, was an easy winner cf the mile and a half of the Bowie Handicap, while Chacolet, the Hal Price Headley mare that was the pride of Kentucky, failed to finish "in the money." It is just this that makes racing, and it will ever be so. No reasoning will explain the running of the Latonia Championship, with Zev sad My Own so thoroughly beaten by Tn Memoriam, in the light of what all three ol these colts had accomplished earlier in the season. In the Kentucky Special In Memoriam, whet he appeared a sure winner in the stretch, fell a victim to the rush of Chacolet. In the Kentucky Derby he was thoroughly beaten by by Zev and several others in the field. Then he comes out and turns the tables on Zev. My Own in the unbeaten record of the year ran a brilliant race over the mile and three-quarters distance to win the Saratoga Cup from Bunting and in just about four seconds faster than thz time of the Latonia Championship, but in that he failed just at the point where he began to do his real running in the Saratoga race. It cannot be charged that any one of these is inconsistent, but the records of these races would almost make such a charge stand up. More and more the conviction is forced that Zevs best distance is a mile and that My Own has trained off from the form that was his when he took the measure of Bunting. It is known that the Whitney horse fell lame in the Saratoga Cup, but the race was one to indicate that he could hardly have done better in any event. Coming down to the Bowie it was just about conclusively proved that My Dear is a better! cup marj than Chacolet. It is true that she was in receipt of four pounds from the Headley mare, and four pounds counts for more in a mile and a half than it would at a shorter distance, but My Dear administered more than a four pounds beating to the Kentucky mare, and with the weights reversed My Dear would probably have been the winner. It. is possibb that the track condition may have had something to do with the result of the Bowie, but it was supposed, and the records would so show, that the thin mud was no handicap to Chacolet. My Dear in her long and honorable career has shown that she is a mud racer as well as a mare capable of-galloping all day over any sort of a track. So that the palm must go to the daughter of King Junes and Bettie Landon. Now a six-year-old, there are few horses of a like age that have been busier than this fame My Dear, and it would be hard indeed to find a more consistent racer. She has been campaigned continuously ever since her first year on the turf, and right now she is probably better than at any time, though all through her long campaigning she has been honest and consistent. It is unfortunate that the track condition brought about the scratching of another rare route traveler in H. Altermans Homestretch. This horse by his victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup gave evidence of his long-route traveling ability, but he is so gaited that he is utterly unable to show to advantage when the track is muddy. It is to be hoped that next Monday the going will be fast. That will undoubtedly give him a chance to show his worth against the Musante mare. The Quincy Stables Captain Alcock is the only horse to win both the mile and a half of the Bowie Handicap and the two miles and a quarter of the Pimlico Cup. My Dear will try to duplicate that performance Monday, and when she is sent to the post she will have many friends rooting for her in the Pimlico stands. While giving My Dear all that so justly belongs to her for her brilliant victory in the Bowie Handicap it must not be forgotten that she had the benefit of a perfect ride by Earl Sande. The daughter of King James has won under many jockeys, and she has lost some races that she would have won with intelligent riding. She was surely ridden intelligently and with rare skill in the Bowie Handicap, and Sande is entitled to his share in the victory. Kentucky, racing of 1923 entered upon its final phase today when Churchill Downs threw open its gates for the final meeting of the year in the Blue Grass. The Kentucky season has been one. of exceptional importance. It was at Churchill Downs in May that Zev began his meteoric three-year-old rise with a victory in the Kentucky Derby, and it was at Latonia last Saturday that he was stopped in full career by a Blue Grass horse, In Memoriam. If the three-year-old championship can be considered as settled then Kentucky deserves the credit "for the accomplishment. Tn any case it was on a Kentucky track that Zev and My Own finally were brought together after all previous efforts to match them had failed. It was a fine piece of unplanned irony that both should go down to defeat before a colt that was but lightly considered before the running of the race. The recurrent victories of old Harry Page at the United Hunts meetings are feats which appeal to the popular imagination. Not a gray-haired man in the stand Tuesday afternoon, when the veteran rode Kate ODay to victory in the second part of the United Hunts Double Event, could restrain his emotions. Probably the greater part of the cheering that greeted Mr. Pages victory came from the throats of men and women that have said farewell to middle age. But the younger spectators also obtained something of a thrill from the performance of this veteran. Long past the age when such sports are supposed to be discarded, Mr. Page goes on riding at these amateur meetings, and his ability in the saddle gives him victory where his younger rivals fail. Years in the saddle have given this dean of gentleman riders an uncanny judgment of pace and the ability to control his mount as few of his younger rivals can. His training came in the day when much more attention was paid to the amateur branch of racing, when competition was keener and there were more gentleman riders in competition. Al though he may not have all of the physical attributes that were his in hi3 younger days, he retains that ability to think quickly and accurately that is so essential to successful race riding. Amateur racing needs men like Harry Page, and the tribute that was paid him after his victory Tuesday shows that the patrons of the sport realize that fact.
