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EPINARDS GREAT IMPOST Assignment of 140 Pounds in Lincolnshire Handicap Discussed. Little Chance of French Star Starting In This Race Notable Weight Carrying Feats of Great Horses. NEW YORK, N. Y., Feb. 2. The announcement that Epinard, the great French four-year-old, has been weighted at 140 pounds for the Lincolnshire Handicap; the opening stake feature of the English flat racing season, undoubtedly means the non-appearance in that race of the Wertheimer champion. It is the greatest impost any horse has been asked to carry for the race and is one pound more than was allotted Polymelus, which was not sent to the post. Such a burden, is either a flattering acknowledgment of the superlative quality of Epinard, or a public declaration by the han-dicapper that if he must err it will be on the safe side. Experts in this country believe that any attempt on the part of Eugene Leigh to get Epinard ready to run at Lincoln so early in the year the race is run the third Aveek in March would be a grievous mistake and might endanger the coming campaign which with its American potentialities gives promise of being most remunerative to Mr. Wertheimer. To give some idea of the task set for Epinard it is only necessary to state that he is asked to concede the English top weight for the race 19 pounds. The top weight for the Lincoln of 1923 was Roman Bachelor, at 126 pounds. He was second in the race to While Bud. a six-year-old, with 93 pounds in the saddle. Good horses can win when thoroughly fit under amazing weights. Take the case of Man o War as a three-year-old as an example. His victory in the Potomac Handicap, at a mile and a sixteenth, over the Havre de Grace course, is a record for this country and perhaps for others so far as can be found in a random search. He put up 13S pounds and beat Wildair, 108; Blazes, lOi1, and Paul Jones, 114; making his own pace and winning eased up. Wildair had shown that he could run a mile in 1:36 early Continued on twelfth page. EPINARDS GREAT IMPOST Continued from first page. in the year with his scale weight up. Blazes was a good winner and Paul Jones won the Kentucky Derby from a strong band of three-year-olds, and the Suburban Handicap, beating Boniface 115 and Extermintor 123, two of the toughest handicap horses this country has ever known. Then there is the showing of Exterminator himself to challenge the admiration of all. He won the Brooklyn Handicap with 135 pounds, beating Grey Lag at 126 and running the mile and an eighth in 1:50. His Toronto Cup victories, with 137 and 132 pounds, were ether superb feats in weight carrying, and it is doubtful whether his equal for all round prowess as a campaigner has ever been seen on the American turf. Grey Lag has a record, too, that entitles him to be classified among the great. He won the Empire City Handicap with 132 and the Saratoga Handicap with 130. Whisk Broom II.s Suburban victory in 1913 with 139 pounds in the saddle a short time after his arrival from England was a notable feat. King James was some weight carrier also, as ho won the Toronto Cup twice, carrying 132 in 1910 and 129 in 1909. Sir Barton and Iioamer each won the Saratoga Handicap with 129 pounds. Both were superb performances. So were those of Olambala, with 128, and Waterboy with 127 in the same stake. Mad Hatters 129 in the Metropolitan of 1922 and 127 in the same race in 1921 were noteworthy, while Hermis and Ballot proved their greatness by winning the Suburban Handicaps of 1901 and 190S respectively with 127 pounds in the saddle. Jack Atkins Metropolitan Handicap victory was achieved with 12S pounds up. Naturalist had 132 pounds up when he won the Carter in 1919, and Roseben took the same prize with 129 pounds in 1906. All of which gives some idea of the task set for Epinard in the Lincoln, to be run seven weeks or thereabouts from the time this is seen in print.
