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Here and There on the Turf Dixie Handicap Revival. A Good Thing for the Turf. Ascot Gold Cup. Grey Lag and Zev. The fact that 116 nominations have been received for the Dixie Handicap, which is to be revived at the Pimlico spring meeting, is strong testimony of the probable success for the Maryland Jockey Clubs experiment. For some years the old custom of announcing weights for the spring handicaps before the opening of the racing season in the North has been allowed to lapse, and the effectiveness of this system under present-day conditions will be put to the test in the Dixie. Weights for the Dixie will be announced February 1, a date so early that even light work will hardly have been started by the candidates. The weights, of course, will have to be assigned on 1923 form and there will be much interest in the race during the early spring racing prior to the running of the Dixie as the various candidates for this 5,000 added race appear. The number of entries seems to assure a good field for the race, and it is to be hoped that the topnotchers of last years racing will be among the starters. Th3 distance, a mile and three-sixteenths, is sufficiently long to serve as an adequate test of thoroughbred ability at that early date. The revival of historic stakes which have been discontinued is a good thing for the turf. The old timers who see the Dixie decided in the spring will remember the old days at Pimlico when the original event of that name was one of the big stakes of the year, and those memories will lend to the new stake new interest. The turf is rooted so firmly on tradition and history that any clement of interest of this type is of considerable importance. In other words, while stake races are necessarily a part of the general turf plan, there arc basic reasons for all racing. A stake race and its winners are unalterably linked in the memory of turfmen and breeders. It is this fact which makes a winner of an important stake of increased value in the stud. The older a stake is in origin the more strongly it appeals to the imagination. There is a certain fascination about an event which enjoys the prestige of long history which no new event, whatever its value, can readily acquire. Thus in selecting the name for this big spring handicap the Pimlico authorities have acted on a sound theory. The traditions of the old Dixie undoubtedly will fall upon the new and another fine old event, with a roll of great winners, will take its place once more among the big stakes of the racing year. If the stars of three countries, which have been named for the Ascot Gold Cup, all face the barrier at the royal English course a great race should result. Zev and Grey Lag are the strictly American entries, but A. K. Macombers Parth, winner of the Prix Arc de Triomphe, will also carry the colors of an American. If Grey Lag stands training and is actually eent to England without accident he should be about the best candidate for the honors that America could possibly select. The son of Star Shoot and Miss Minnie, at his best, is undoubtedly the closest approach to a great horse that has graced the American turf since Man o "War went into retirement. Grey Lags underpinning unfortunately has been a sourc? of repeated trouble, but he has had a long rest and probably will stand training again. If he j is not at his best it would certainly not be fair to his reputation to send him overseas for the Ascot Gold Cup, but all American turfmen are rooting for the old son of Star Shoot to show his fitness. Epinard, Papyrus and Zev also may meet in this event. All have been named for the j Tac3, and it is extremely likely that French and English colts at least will be among th? j j starters. Zev is not so likely to make the trip, it would seem. The visit of Epinard to this country appears certain, and it is hardly likely that trainer Hildreth will want to send the son of The Finn abroad before the series of races in which the French colt is scheduled to meet Zev and others. Grey Lag, as has been intimated, is likely to be a much better contender for the Ascot Cup than the International winner, as Zev has never realy demonstrated his staying ability. If trainer Hildreth had no doubt of Zevs stamina he probably would not have been so I insistent that the match with In Memoriam j be arranged for a mile and a quarter instead of , a mile and a half. Grey Lag, on the other had, has shown his ability to stay over long distances in many a hard race and is, when at his best, a horse which may well be listed among the finest in modern American turf history. It is to be hoped that one or the other of these American entries will be sent abroad to start in the Ascot Cup. Such a move will mean much to the future of international racing, regardless of the outcome. It will show the English racing public that the United State? does not want all the better of conditions hr international turf competition, and it will serve to dispell the feeling which followed the Zev-Papyrus race. International racing should have a future and there is every indication that it will. Epinards projected visit to this country will probably do much to promote it. A visit to England by Zev and Grey Lag will do even more. The honors that go with a victory in the Ascot Gold Cup will be well worth the trip, if one of the American, horses happens -o-win, but even if both are shipped abroad and fail to win the coveted prize the service which the enterprise will do in promoting turf interest between the two countries should recom- pense the owner of the horses for ths expense and trouble involved. It is not reasonable to expect that foreign horses will always be sent here to race without any prospect of a return engagement in their native lands. If international racing is to bz kept alive American owners must show a spirit akin to that of Benjamin Irish, who sent Papyrus here.
