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Here and There on the Turf Black Gold at Cleveland. Romance of Derby Winner. Extravagant Praise. Trainer Webbs Methods. The visit of Black Gold, winner of the Kentucky Derby, to Maple Heights for the purpose of starting in the Ohio State Derby on Saturday, is an incident of more than passing sig nificance. It lends increased importance to racing at the Cleveland track and it indicates that few opportunities to test the prowess of the Derby winner will be allowed to pass by. The Ohio State Derby, in spite of its ,000 added, did not promise to be more than a comparatively big race at a comparatively unimportant track, but the presence of the Hoots star in the field will result in centering the eyes of the racing world on the Cleveland course Saturday afternoon. Thus Cleveland will have an opportunity to see the countrys leading three-year-old in action while the East waits in vain. Black Gold unfortunately has no stake engagements at eastern tracks. There is a great deal of romance in the story of Black Gold. He is a puule to the alleged breeding experts who declared that a scion of sprinting lines as represented in the family of his dam, eould never go a distance against good horses. Useeit was a daughter of Bonnie Joe, which never sired a horse that could go more than three-quarters at the outside. She had more speed over short distances than many of the horse3 that could be raced against her, but to have suggested that she would ever foal a Kentucky Derby winner would have seemed grotesque. When Useeits Indian owner allowed the mare to be ruled off the turf at Juarez rather than turn her over when she was claimed, he is credited with making a statement that he would take her back to Oklahoma and breed her and that she would produce a colt that "wouldnt look at their damn claiming races." Whether or not all this is legend or truth, the realization of that promise is a fine ro manee, although Useeits Indian owner did not live to see Black Gold in action. But the little woman who received the gold cup from the hands of Colonel Whitehead at Churchill Downs last Saturday, after her colt had won Americas greatest race, was a worthy representative of her dead husband at that supreme moment. The enthusiastic supporters of Black Gold who are hailing the son of Black Toney as a :A:ond Man o War, are merely following in the footsteps of the supporters of previous Kentucky Derby winners. Black Gold may or may not turn out to be a great horse —certainly he cannot be accepted as such on the strength of his performances to date. The same kind of encomiums were heaped upon the shoulders of Morvich after his Derby victory, but everyone remembers how little the son of Runnymede deserved that praise. He never won another race after that Derby victory. Last year Zev went on after his victory in the Derby to pile up the greatest money winning record in American history, but there ■ still considerable of a question whether the Rancocas star could be justly termed a great horse. Certainly he accomplished none of the record breaking feats which made Man o War stand out so sharply from his fellows. After Black Golds start in the Ohio State Derby the colt will be shipped to Latonia to prepare for his engagement in the Latonia Derby. This race is a high test over the Derby distance of a mile and a half. If Useeits son can via over euch a route in a field of good class horses, the breeding pundits will be further confounded. His Indian trainer, Webb, has been the ob ject cf much criticism on the part of horsemen, who felt sure that his methods were wrong, since they did not coincide with those com monly accepted. Webb shipped Black Gold from New Orleans to Louisville by slow freight, while most of the cheaper horses which raced at the southern track were enjoying the luxury of express cars and rapid transit. Webb had his reasons for doing that. He did not wish to subject the colt to the shock of a sudden change of climate. But he did not take the trouble to explain a!l these things to the other trainers, who simply assumed that he was anxious to save the difference be tween the cost of freight shipment and express. Webb i»L o was. charged with neglecting the colt because he subjected him to severe train ing and did not coddle him, as most thoroughbreds have come to experience. But Webb again knew what he was doing, if one may-judge from the results. Between Webbs own sleeping quarters and the stall of Black Gold a door was cut so that the ccjt could be under thj constant care of his conditioner. This was not conventional and there was more criticism, but Black Gold won the Derby, while his coddled rivals, much more highly considered by the experts, had fallen one by one by the wayside from the rigors of training. Accordingly in considering the achievements of Black Geld, past, present and future, trainer Webb must not be overlooked. The littte black colt was a wonderfully fit horse last Saturday and it is not a simple thing to keep a horse on edge from the middle of March until the middle of May.
