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Here and There on the Turf More on Early Entries. Some Difficulties. Scratch Rule Importance. Stakes at Churchill. The question of earlier entries at th? New "fork tracks is a subject that has come up again and it appears now there is a general appreciation of the good that would come from this earlier closing. It would tend to bring about better fields and would at the same time afford better opportunity to amend a program when a race did not fill satisfactorily. But there is a reason for the present late closing in New York. It is a reason that does not exist in any other of the racing localities. In New York there are so many horses that are not stabled at the course over which the meeting is being conducted that there would be some complications in insisting upon early closing of entries. Now with the racing at Belmont Park many of the horses are stabled either at Aqueduct or Jamaica. It is there they are trained end it is there the trainers have to put in their time in the early morning. With the entries not closing until 2 oclock in the afternoon it is most convenient for the trainers to defer making entries until they have come to the races. This is the first argument that has been offered against the early closing of entries and it is a fairly good one. Of course, it would be possible to take entries over the telephone and faval might make the early closing possible, but the fact that the trainer, that is, many of them, are employed elsewhere in the early morning and forenoon is something of a handicap. At other race courses it is usual that the horses are all stabled at the track over which the racing is being conducted and that, of course, makes the early closing infinitely more convenient than it would be in New York. The early closing could readily apply to both the Empire City and the Saratoga meetings, where the horses are all on hand, but it is readily understood that there are complication* in early closing at the Ixmg Island tracks. This is set forth in excuse for the present late closing of entrias, but it would seem that there could be a plan that woul 1 still make the early closing possible when its importance is taken into consideration. It would be a bit confusing if there was one closing time at Empire City and Saratoga and another for Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Ja maica and, if the change is to be made, it would apply to all the tracks. Still another scheme that appears entirely feasible would be to have the entries close at the various training grounds at an hour that would make possible the reporting of such entries to the racing secretary at the closing time on the track over which the races are to be run. In Louisville there are many horses that are trained and stabled at the Dou*las Park track and Churchill Downs has its early closing. At Bowie and Laurel, in Maryland, entries are received in ample time from trainers who have their quarters at old Benning course in Washington and there are other tracks with early-closing of entries where the horses come from neighboring training grounds. The early closing could be established. It would require a bit more trouble at the Long Island tracks than at Empire City and Sara toga, but the benefit that would come appears to be well worth the trouble. Horsemen would quickly fall in with such a rule and it is probable they would realize before long that it wa« a good one. In the Babylon handicap at Belmont Park Wednesday, when a promised field of seven was scratched down to two starters, there was again brought home the importance of an adequate scratch rule. If there was a rule demanding that scratches b? made at 9, or even 10 oclock the morning of the race, it would have been pos sible to declare the Babylon Handicap off and substitute another race. When late scratches are permitted it becomes impossible to fill a substitute race. There may have been excellent reason for the scratching of Transmute, Klondyke, Dunlin, Homestretch and Aga Khan, because of the changed track condition, but if these horses had been withdrawn in the early forenoon it would have been easily possible to fill another race to take the place of the two- horse disappointment. This is done on other tracks where there is an early scratch rule, and it makes for better racing. The same argument that has been offered against an early closing of entries will be made against the early scratch rule, but these arguments should be overcome. If these changes are made in the rules it ought to make for better fields and better fields will surely make for more entertaining racing. Two big features remain at Churchill Downs before the close of that tremendously successful meeting of the Kentucky Jockey Club. These are the Bashford Manor Stakes to be decided Friday Decoration Day and the Kentucky Oaks, down for decision Saturday. The Bashford Manor is a four and a half furlongs dash for two year olds, to which ,000 Ls added, and it had its first decision in 1902. Last year it was won in sensational style by Black Gold, winner of the Kentucky Derby this year. For this renewal it is probable that Reputa tion, the fast-running son of Hilarious and Paris Queen, is the most fancied eligible. The Kentucky Oaks is of the same venerable age as the Kentucky Derby, having had its first running in 1873. Last year it was the Green-tree Stables Untidy that was its winner from Sweetheart and Gadfly. In this renewal H. C. Fishers Nellie Morse will be one of the notable candidates, when she will try to duplicate her Preakness Stakes triumph, in which she took the measure of the best colts that could be mustered against her at Pimlico. Alex Gordon, who developed Nellie Mors?, and John Merimee, who rode her to victory in the Preakness Stakes, are both at Churchill Downs making ready for the fray and the daughter of Luke McLuke promises to be fit and ready for her best. This good filly is also engaged in the Ladies Stakes at Belmont Park, but unfortunately she was not named for the Coaching Club American Oaks, to be decided over that course aaj the closing day of the Westchester Racing Association meeting.
