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Here and There on the Turf Popularity of Dixie. The Early Handicap. Opportunity for Grey Lag. Greentree Stables Start. The response to the Dixie Handicap, which is being revived by the Maryland Jockey Club as a Pinilico Feature at the spring meeting, must be gratifying to the oldest of the Maryland racing associations. There were fifty-four different interests represented in the list of 118 nominations that were received and the list contains the name of almost all of the truly good horses in training. What is of particular interest is the fact that there should be such a responsa for a race of a mile and three-sixteenths to be run in May. It would tend to show that trainers can have horses ready for such an offering at that earlj- time, when the offering is attractive. The Dixie is surely attractive, for it has 5,000 added. With the nominations that have been made it would only require a field of ten starters to bring the valua to 32,360, and such a sum is well calculated to bring out the best horses at any time. The fact that the weights are to be announced on February 1 is a revival of an old-time handicapping system that has gone out of use for such a long time that it is well-nigh forgotten, but the revival promises to be popular. After the assignment of the weights there are two penalties. These are that winners of ,500 after the announcement shall take up three pounds additional, while winners of ,000 after the announcement are required to shoulder an additional five pounds. Handicapping at this season of the year naturally must be done on performances of the year that has gone by and that offers an angle that is interesting. It becomes the duty of the handicappcr to use a line that is not called upon when there are recent races and: present conditions of the horsss before him. He must estimate what horses should improve or what ones may go back. He must make up his mind whether or not a sprinting two-year-old will develop into a staying three-year-cld and there are various other niceties of his labor that come into his conclusions. But after these weights have been assigned there at once comes a new interest in the race. It is open for a discussion that comes merely from the announcement of the entries. The trainers are sure to like the return to the old system. Should a trainer be dissatisfied with the wight his candidate has been asked to shoulder he can readily halt the training of it for the race. This is not possible when the announcement comes within a few days of the running of the race. The candidates are all put in rigorous training and then when the weights do not suit this or that trainer and he declares all the preparation goes for naught. It remains to be seen just what sort of a race will result from a return to the eld method, but it is worth trying, and it is one of the really interesting features in the revival of the famous old race. It is evident that if Samuel C. Hildreth succeeds in bringing the mighty Grey Lag back to the races this year he will not want for rich opportunities. That was made apparent when he was named for the Ascot Gold Cup. It is not thought at this tim3 that Mr. Sinclair has any idea of sending the son of Star Shoot and Miss Minnie to England for that race, but the old horse was made eligible so that no opportunity would be overlooked. Hildreth has a way of bringing cripples back and he has patched up many a good one in his day. Grey Lag was brought out last year when there seemed a doubt it would bs possible, and it may be done again. In the meantime he is being nominated for all the races for which he is eligible and, if he does come back, his first chance promises to 12 in the mile and three-sixteenths of the Dixie Handicap at Pimlico. It will be interesting to see what weight he will be required to shoulder when Frank J. Bryan makes his allotments known on February 1. Hildreth has no fewer than eleven named for that 5,000 race, and in the number is old Mad Hatter, Thunderclap and Flying Cloud, the others being Zev, Bud Lerner and the three-year-olds Mad Play, Stanwix, Braca-dale, Eaglet and Hourmore. The Rancocas Stable sees to it that no stake chances arc missed and that is another reason for its having headed the list of winning owners for the past three years. For the 1923 season of racing the Greentree Stable was only topped by the Rancocas Stabls in its immense winnings. The manner in which I I the Greentree Stable has been beginning the: 1924 racing season would suggest that there is another big year in store for the popular silks. This early start at New Orleans willi help considerably in the final count, and it k probable that the Greentree Stable will have shown a considerable sum in the winning column before any of the Rancocas Stabh horses are sent to the post. From a beginning as a sporting stable of a few steeplechasers the Greentree Stable ha? grown to immense proportions. It was the stecphchasing that iirst attraced"7thei."fair owner of this racing establishment, and now the Greentree Stable breeds horses and the flat racing string has overshadowed the stce-plechassrs. But the jumping end of the stable has never been neglected a3 the flat runner? raced their way to money and fame. There has always been a goodly lot of the best jumping material to bsar the colors, and in 1922 it was the stable that headed all the other steeplechase stables. For the coming season Vincent Powers is making ready some particularly promisine jumpers and the stable will bs early in the field of action.
