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ELIMINATION OF THE STARS • Fickle Fortune Frowns on Sara- zen, St. James, Wise Counsellor. t I • TicUiry of Nellie Morse in Preakness Good Thing: for Turf — Her Breeding on Ideal linos. i ♦ NEW YORK, N. Y.. May 20.— The fickleness of fortune is strikingly exemplified in the elimination from contention in the big spring races of what were considered a few weeks ago the three outstanding candidates for honors in the ranks of the American three-year-olds of 1924. It only seems yesterday that the names of St. James and Wise Counsellor as the most prominent factors in the Preakness Stakes were on the lips of everybody with a knowledge of the turf, while it was only necessary to express the belief that Sarazen wasnt a Derby horse to bring about an argument. And now St. .lames is on the shelf indefinitely while neither Wise Counsellor nor Sarazen will be seen in active competition for weeks. In the case of St. James, a colt of commanding bulk, lameness is a serious matter. No attempt will be made to hurry him. None of the American trainsers surprasses A. J. Joyner in moderation. St James is the apple of his eye and if rest will brnig the colt back to the turf, the North Carolinian lis the man for the task. Patience is one of his most striking attributes. What ho «an do in this line is instanced in the record Of Lanius. whose career in the hands of a less skillful and temperate horseman would have terminated long ago. | . ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. 1 Arrested development is the best description available for the condition of Sarazen. The fleet gelding hasnt come to hand as lie should. He hasnt grown, and he wont ■have the bloom of his coat that betokens perfect condition until the warm sun puts sap and elasticity into the muscular fibre of the son of High Time, whose record of Eleven victories at two years of age marked him as a juvenile of quality. I I A month ago Kentuckians were a unit in declaring that Wise Counsellor was the best looking horse in the blue grass region. So good a judge as John K. Madden, declared that the son of Mentor could run as fast as anybodys three-year-old. Winning the Kentucky Derby was only a question of the colt training well until the day of the race in the opinion of many of the best judges In the country. This condition prevailed until John S. .Ward, part owner and trainer of the colt, decided to ship his charge to Pimlico for the Proakncss Stakes, actuated by the belief that Wise Counsellor could win both the Maryland fixture and the Derby in the same Week. Change of scene upset the highly organized colt. He was stabled near the schooling ground at Pimlico and the excitement at the barrier during the morning hours upset him greatly. He fretted and wasted, losing flesh daily. Mr. Ward moved to another location, but the mischief was done and on the eve of the Preakness, Wise Counsellor, only a shadow of his once handsome self, was declared from the race. The colt was sent to join the remainder of the stable at Aqueduct and was tried in a race, which confirmed the misgivings regarding his condition. He will b » given a chance to recuperate at that point, before taking part in any of his New York engagements. BREEDING REAPS BENEFIT. The victory of Nellie Morse in the Preakness is a good thing for the turf. Whenever a filly is capable of taking the measure of the colts in the outstanding three-year-olds race, the bn tf ling industry reaps the benefit. How to dispose of yearling fillies is a vexatious problem for the breeder. His colts, as a rule, sell themselves, if they have anything to recommend them, but racing men look askance at fillies unless thoy have unusual qualities of blood and conformation. Having one of the gentler sex match the achievements of Modesty and Regret — the latter won the Kentucky Derby — should stimulate the yearling filly market at Saratoga Springs next August. It was Nellie Morses mud-running ability that made her victorious in the Preakness and Pimlico Oaks, though she is stoutly bred, being by Luke McLuke, from La Yenganza, by Abercorn, a son of Chester. As Luke McLuke is by Ultimus. from imported Midge, by Trenton, and the second dam of Nelli" Morse is imported Colonial, by Trenton, which already foaled Hessian. Hud Fishers star filly has a double infusion of recognized staying blood close up In her pedigree. She is ideally bred on the plan that has for its fundamentals the mating of the best blood of the dam with the best blood of the dam of the siro. Nellie Morse won four races last year as a two-year-old, was second six times and third twice. Her closing performance was probably her best, for in that race, the Druid Hill Purse, at Pimlico, she beat at equal weights over a mile and seventy yards. Transmute, the Whitney colt which was second to her in the Preakness. The track was very heavy on that occasion, just as it was in the Maryland feature. Mr. Fisher has a real good candidate for the filly fixtures of 1921, but it is unfortunate that she was not named for the Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park on the closing day of the meeting. She is an absentee also from the ■ Belmont and Withers Stakes, two of the most historic races in the country, the former having a guaranteed value of 0,000. Her engagements at the coming Belmont Park meeting, which opens on May 22, include the Toboggan Handicap at three-quarters of a mile I and the Indies Handicap at a mile, the latter for fillies and mares exclusively.
