view raw text
Here and There on the Turf King Solomons Seal. His Handicap Chance. Track Living Conditions. One of the colts in the 1924 handicap division that might readily develop into a champion is J. B. Smiths King Solomons Seal. four-year-cH son of King James and Hima-tion, a daughter of Hermis. When Max Hirsch sent this horse into winter retirement at the close of the Maryland season he had rounded out his year by winning the Thanksgiving Handicap, at a mib and three-sixteenths, at Bowie in 2:02, establishing a new track record for the distance. In that race King Solomons Seal shouldered 115 pounds, a con-siderabb impost for a three-year-old against older horses, and back of him finished Moonraker, Flagstaff, Exodus, Reparation, Setting Sun, Balphrizonia, Hcphaistos, winner of the Pimlico Cup from IT. P. Headleys Chacolei, the mare that beat In Memoriam in the Kentucky Special, Fair Gain, General Thatcher, High Prince and Opperman. In that race King Solomons Seal began tenth in the field of twelve that started and was forced to work his way through the big company to arrive home the winner. In all of his races this good colt has shown ability to race over a long distance of ground brilliantly and there are few thoroughbreds of greater courage. And King Solomons Seal was a consistent performer all through the year. He was started thirteen times, was eight times winner and once second. Hirsch did not bring the son of King James to the races until at the Saratoga meeting in August and in two starts there he was beaten. Returning to Belmont Park he was the winner of a selling race at one mile, but it is possible that he will never again be seen in a S3lling race. He followed this victory with two others at the big Nassau County course and then at Aqueduct he was just beaten a head by Prince of Umbria. It was no disgrace to be beaten by this sturdy little son of Brown Prince, for it was the same Prince of Umbria that had My Own well extended to win and ths same Prince of I Umbria that forced Cherry Pie to hang out a new American mile record to beat him at Belmont Park. - Following this defeat he took up 121 pounds and easily beat Moonraker, the only other starter. This was another mile race. Then came two other victories at a mile and a sixteenth and seventy yards respectively. He lost in the Washington Handicap at Laurel, was not raced at Pimlico, but at Bowie beat many a Pimlico winner. His first Bowie success was in the mile and an eighth of the Prince George Handicap, and back of him were Dunlin, Flagstaff, Solisa, Setting Sun, My Own, Shuffb Along, Home- stretch, winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Gadfly. He was beaten in the Southern Maryland Handicap and then came his victory in his last race of his campaign, the Thanksgiving Handicap. ! I Hirsch has named King Solomons Seal for the Dixie Handicap, at a mile and three-sixteenths, the 125,000 added race that is to be revived at the old Pimlico course in the spring by the Maryland Jockey Club. This is the fixture for which the weights are to be announced February 1, and it will" be interesting to see just where Frank J. Bryan, the club handi-capper, will place the son of King James. The company promises to be the best that King Solomons Seal has been asked to meet in his useful career, but he has raced his way into the best company. Should the weight b acceptable to Max Hirsch this good our-ycar-old will be pointed for the race, and if he is brought to the post the horse he was last November it will take a good one to beat him. King Solomons Seal has always been a bit sluggish in the early part of a race, but he has shown every evidence of being a stayer. He is well engaged in the handicaps that have already been closed and he is generally looked upon as the best handicap horse that Hirsch has in his care for the 1924 campaign. Edward R. Bradley has added to the comfort of his employes by adding another story to his stable, where h3 had installed sleeping rooms, a shower bath and a toilet. This is right in line with what Mr. Bradley has done before for his employes and is a small thing compared to many of the cxp;ndiutres of the Kentucky sportsman to better the living conditions of all race track employes. It is not meant by this that there is anything of hardship attending such a life, but time was when it was little more than a warm place to sleep and phnty to eat. Now the men of the race track, thanks to sportsmen like Mr. Bradley, have comfort that would have been looked upon as rare luxuries in the old days of the sport. One thing that has been dons by Mr. Brad-i ley is the building of -a recreation place for the stable employes in Kentucky. Race courses as a general proposition offer little in the way of amusement after a racing day and the employes with nothing to do in the long evenings could hardly be blamed for stealing away to the city for their fun. This fun was not always wisey chosen and the visit to the city left the revelers in no condition for the work of the next day. This recreation hall is to give the" boys a club where they can amuse themselves to the limit without a journey to the city. There is such a hall at Bowie and another at Laurel, Md., and they have done much to make the long nights of the stable hands pleasant. The lad that decides on a turf career in these days enjoys advantages that were unheard of a dozen years ago and the result is that the turf is being peopled by a fine lot of right-living lads.
