Here and There on the Turf: Graysons Challenge Zevs Campaign the Bowie Meeting Racing at Miami, Daily Racing Form, 1923-11-16

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Here and There on the Turf Graysons Challenge. Zevs Campaign. The Bowie Meeting. Racing at Miami. Admiral Cary T. Grayson is still firm in the belief that in My Own he has the champion thrce-year-cld of the year. He is not satisfied with the result of the Latonia Championship Stakes, in which the son of King James and Bettie Landon was so thoroughly beaten by both In Memoriam and Zev and is out with another challenge. This time no aspiring three-year-old is barred, and it is stipulated in his defy that the distance be at least a mile and a quarter and may be stretched to two miles and a quarter, should such a route be agreeable to any sportsman willing to run against his colt. It is set forth that the race be run at Bowie on or after November 24, but another condition is that the going be fast for the race. It is possible that this last condition will prevent the consummation of the race. Doubtless James F. OHara and his associates of the Southern Maryland Association would readily hang up a suitable sum for a race that might bring My Own, Zev, In Memoriam and. possibly Homestretch together, but this question of track condition is an uncertain one at this time of the year. My Own has been particularly unfortunate this year in the matter of opportunity, and he has shown both Admiral Grayson and the veteran W. P. Burch enough to warrant their belief in his high class. They were both bitterly disappointed in his showing in the Latonia Championship Stakes, and his defeat was charged against the track condition. As a matter of fact there is no stretch of imagination that could, describe the track as muddy or Blow, and My Own is indeed finicky if that footing was alone to blame for his bad race. As a matter of fact he did not run within many pounds of what he had shown in more difficult going, but the fact remains that Admiral Grayson is not convinced that My Own is other than the champion of the year, and it would be interesting if one more meeting of tha three-year-olds at the top of the division could be arranged. White Sam Hildreth announced after Zev va3 an easy winner of the Serial Weight-for-Age Race at Pimlico that he "would send his champion into retirement for the winter, he changed his mind when the opportunity came to have another race with Carl Wiedemanns In Memoriam. The result of the Latonia Championship Stakes, in which the Kentucky colt so decisively took the measure of the conqueror of Papyrus, was a bitter jolt to Hildreth, and he considered the race so far away from the real form of the son of The Finn and Miss Kearney that it was natural he should welcome one more chance. While Zev wa3 unable to keep any of his : Saratoga engagements in August, there have : been few prospective champions kept as busy as has the son of The Finn and Miss Kearney. His fabulous earnings tell of how he met his i engagements. Beginning with the Paumonok : : i Handicap on the opening day of the New York season Hildreth has practically kept his great three-year-old in constant training all year, with the exception of a brief enforced idleness in midsummer. The fact that he is still at the top of the heap, except for his defeat by In Memoriam in the Latonia Championship Stakes, testifies to his sturdy constitution, as well as the skill of Hildreth as a conditioner. Now that he has been brought back to meet In Memoriam it is natural to expect that, should he come out of that race in good condition, his retirement for the year may be postponed again to accept the challenge of Admiral Cary T. Grayson for a meeting with My Own at Bowie. The only weak spot in the Grayson challenge is the proviso that the track must be fast. Such a condition might make necessary a postponement of the race after a date had bean i decided upon. Hildreth has said repeatedly that he would like to have Zev meet My Own over a track that suited the son of King James, and he would be just as eager for such going at Bowie as is Admiral Grayson himself, but track condition in November is at the best uncertain. For that reason there is a grave doubt of the challenge ever bringing about a race. Nominations that have been made for the Bowie Stakes tell the tale of the quality of the sport that may be expacted at the Prince George County track in Maryland for the meeting that begins Tuesday. These nominations would do credit to a midsummer meeting, and the liberality of James F. OHara and his associates has resulted in some of the best horses being retained in training for the meeting. The opening feature Tuesday, the Prince George Handicap of a mile and an eighth, contains the names of such as Zev, My Own, Homestretch, Shuffle Along, General Thatcher, King Solomons Seal, Gadfly, Fly by Day, Transom and many another star. For the Southern Maryland Handicap, at a mile, in addition to the best three-year-olds, two-year-clds are exceedingly well represented in Sarazen, Time Exposure, Dazzler, H. T. Waters, Beau Butler, winner of the, Pimlico. Futurity, Stanwix, winner of one division of the Walden Stakes, as well as Gonfalon and Gold Bug. The Thanksgiving Handicap, for thrce-year- i olds and over, at a mile and three-sixteenths, has just about the same list of nominations as the Prince George Handicap, whib for the Endurance Handicap, over a mile route, for two-year-olds, a remarkable entry list is found. Among these are the unbeaten Sarazen, Stanwix and Senator Norris, the two Walden Stakes winners of the year; Beau Butler, winner of the Pimlico Futurity; Diogenes, winner of the Hopeful Stakes, to say nothing of many others of the topnotchers that have not been as fortunate in stake winnings. Bowie is indeed better equipped for high-class racing than ever before in its history. The promise of racing in Miami may mean a great deal to winter campaigning, or it may mean little. Miami has every advantage for the staging of the sport. It is a natural winter playground, and if a meeting is properly conducted there it cannot fail to succeed. It must be racing that will offer inducements to successfully compete with the other winter race courses, and there has been such a steady growth of winter racing that this will mean the hanging up of liberal purses and prizes that will attract a worthy list of horses. Miami is easy of access and its many other advantages will appeal to the horsemen who keep their horses in training through the ccld months, but it must be remembered that the racing must be made to pay. Most of the sportsmen who campaign the year around must make their horses pay their way and for that reason they will be found where there is the best winning chance. New Orleans, Havana and Tijuana have been taking care of the winter demand for racing for some years, and this fall there wa3 also Tanforan to furnish another track. Miami will have this opposition, but under the proper sort of management this Florida resort will be sure to at once take its place as one of the most popular of winter season tracks. One of the advantages that will be enjoyed by Miami is that Florida is one of the greatest of winter playgrounds. Each year it attracts thousands who escape the rigors of a winter in the North, and these are the men and women who are looking for entertainment and men and women who are well ab!e to pay for their amusement. Racing will have a great appeal to this class, and there should be an abundant patronage of the Miami racing if it is conducted along the proper lines and made a sport worthy of such patronage.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800