view raw text
Hereand There on the Turf Three -Year-Old Supremacy. My Owns Elimination. James F. OHaras Party. International Rumors. The stage is all set for the final test of the year to settle the question of three-year-old supremacy. Harry F. Sinclairs Zev and Carl Wiedemanns In Memoriam are both ready for the caT to the post in their mile and a quarter match, and its running will decide just which colt -mil be champion. Zev put one after another of the contenders for the crown out of the running until the decision of the La-tonia Championship, in which In Memoriam took his measure with ease. In that same race there was eliminated another pretender to the throne when Admiral Cary T. Graysons My Own went down to defeat. It was that raca that brought about this return match between Zev and In Memoriam. The conditions are considerably different, for the Latonia Championship Stakes was at a mile and three-quarters, while for the return match the distance has been cut to a mile and a quarter. Those who have made a close study of both colts must admit that the shortening . of the distance favors Zev on all he has shown, but Mr. Wiedemann is firm in the belief that his son of McGee is the master of Zev over any distance. Had it not been for his defeat in the Latonia Championship Zev would not be in Kentucky now racing against In Memoriam. In the Kentucky Derby he had beaten the Wiedemann champion and when the Sinclair colt went to the post in the Latonia Championship Stakes the only three-year-old that had not gone down before him was My Own. Then In Memoriam turned the tables on the New York champion, reversed the running of the Kentucky Derby and jumped to the top of the class. The same race brought defeat to My Own, and now it is incumbent upon Zev, the conqueror of Papyrus, the English champion, to wipe out this Latonia defeat if he is to be the undisputed champion. There are still many who offer excuses for My Own in the running of the Latonia Championship, but it is useless to go back of the returns. He was beaten by both Zev and In Memorian, and thoroughly beaten. In that defeat it is admitted that My Own did not run his race, but the fact remains that he was beaten, and so far as the three-year-old championship is concerned it is strictly a question between Zev and In Memoriam New York and Kentucky. Zev has been one champion that has had little rest all through the racing year, and when it is taken into consideration that he began his 1923 campaign on May 2, when he beat a band of older horses in the Paumonok Handicap on the opening day of the Jamaica Eeason, his has been a remarkable campaign. I Hildreth has kept the son of The Finn and Miss Kearney hard at it, and he has not confined his efforts to races with those of his own age. He has raced over all distances and has met and conceded weight to older horses from the beginning of the racing year. That he is still able to defend his title on November 17 speaks volumes not only for the colt himself but for the skill of Hildreth in keeping him going. Zev will go into winter quarters one of the greatest handicap possibilities in many a season, and there need be no fear of Hildreth sending him into retirement until he has proved himself in 1924. Zev is a colt that has stood the rigors of training magnificently. He has done just about all that could be asked, and win, lose or draw in this, his last public appearance of the year, he has taken a place in American turf history that will last for all time. Following his usual custom James F. OHara has arranged an oyster roast for friends of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Association to precede the race meeting which is to begin Tuesday. This oyster roast will be spread at the Bowie course Sunday afternoon, and it is a spring and fall affair that always brings out a merry crowd, and there is no more genial host than that same James F. OHara. For the meeting that is to open Tuesday the preparations that have been made are more elaborate than ever before, and the Prince George Handicap, the mile and an eighth feature that is to raise the curtain, will bring together one of the best fields that has ever paraded to the post at the track on the hill. Much as a three-cornered international race that would bring the best horse of England, France and America together next spring is to be desired, it seems now that all that has been told in French cables with such a wealth of detail has been manufactured out of the whole cloth. The denials that have come one after another since the original publication leaves no foundation whatever for the story that caused a ripple in the turf world. By this it is not meant that a race may not be arranged, but thus far there have been no overtures looking to a race except those that have been published in the newspapers. Just where the whole yarn began is hard to determine. Ifrwas a good story, except that it was not based on fact. It is the most natural thing in the world for Pierre Wertheimer to resent this matching of his colt Epinard without his knowledge or consent. In fact, some of the cables quoted the sportsman owner of the French champion in regard to the details of the proposed race. The only reason there can be for the publications is a desire to bring about this great race. That makes the offense almost forgivable. Mr. Wertheimer may after all forgive the unwarranted use of his name and that of his great colt and consider a proposition for the race. He has every reason to believe that he has the greatest colt in the world, and the way in which Epinard met his various engagements would make it appear that Mr. Wertheimer would be willing to have him meet all comers. Be that as it may, the publication of the arrangements of the mythical race on May 3 is to be deplored, and it is devoutly to be hoped that the publication will not prejudice any efforts that may yet come to bring about a three-cornered race to take in Epinard and the best four-year-old that can be sent from this country and from England. Such races are sure to work great and lasting good for the turf of each competing country. :