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Here and There on the Turf Ladkins New Form. To Meet Mad Play. The St. Louis Situation. Brainstorm for Saturday. August Belmonts Ladkin, home-bred three-year-old son of Fair Play and Lading, by Nego-fol, created something of a sensation at Aqueduct Tuesday by bis impressive victory in the , Broadway Stakes. This is a mile and a sixteenth race for non winners of ,000 and 1 was framed as a sort of consolation for colts and fillies that were considerably better than 1 platers, but at the same time had failed in rich i races. Ladkin equaled the track record when he raced the distance in 1 :43 and what was I of much greater importance was the fact that he took up 122 pounds and was conceding ! from seven to ten pounds to every other starter. It is possible that this good colt will go on to much greater things, but it is just a bit unfortunate if a prospective champion does not show his true form until late in June. This robs him of many a rich opportunity and bars him from both the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, two of the richest American races. Mr. Belmont has no eligible* in the Latonia Derby, which is to be decided June 28, so that the opportunities of T/adkin are still more limited. At the present meeting of the Queens County Jockey Club the son of Fab-Play has just two remaining engagements. These are in the Carlton Stakes, at a mile, to be run Tuesday, and the Dwyer Stakes. formerly known as the Brooklyn Derby, to be run July 5, at a mile and an eighth. Both of these stakes have attracted the nomination of the best three-year-olds that have been shown, with the exception of Mrs. Hoots Black Gold, winner of the Kentucky Derby. Should the colt maintain his present form through these races and be returned their winner he will still have many opportunities before the end of the New York racing season, for there are several important three-year-old stakes to be decided during the Saratoga meeting and then at Belmont Park in September will come the mile and five-eighths of the Lawrence Realization Stakes. It is to be hoped that Ladkin will be sent to the post for the Carlton Stakes, and that Mad Play, winner of the Belmont Stakes, will also be a 6tarter. The Rancocas Stable colt wOl be required under the conditions to concede three pounds to Ladkin. It ought to be a race that would more definitely fix just where Ladkin belongs among the best of the year. In the Dwyer Stakes Mad Play will also have to concede weight to the Belmont three-year old, and the fact of its being over a mil? and an eighth route will make it of more , racing importance. Aside from the fact that Ladkin took up 1 weight and ran a fast race in the Broadway 5 Stakes, there was nothing to give him consideration among the best three year-olds. Of course that counts for much, but his gameness i was not tested. He had speed enough to go i into a long lead and the ones that finished f behind him have not shown enough to be i good class testing horses. Klondyke had the i worst of it at the start and finished second, but i Klondyke is many pounds from being at the s top of the class, on all that he has shown in s his races. Aga Khan and Plough Boy have t proven inconsistent, though each is credit h1 with displays of speed. Eaglet has run some c good races, but they could not be considered a , 1 5 i i f i i i s s t c a brilliant, while Vulnad has never shown enough to give him the ghost of a chance in the top class. But if it narrows down to Mad Play and Ladkin, the chairman of the Jockey Club will have much to congratulate himself upon, for both are of his stock. While Mad Play was bred by Mr. Sinclair, he is a son cf Fair Play and the Rock Sand mare, Madcap, both bred by Mr. Belmont. Ladkin was br?d at the Nursery Stud. While the gentlemen who comprise the Fair mount Jockey Club may measure up to everr requirement of the turf, the announcement for a race meeting in East St. Louis, which is in Illinois, does not give the impression that it is to be a sporting venture. Racing for revenue can never endure, and if that is the sole aim of the club it will work harm in the attempt to restroe the thoroughbred sport to the state of Missouri. There can be no good reason for the building of a course and the holding of a race meeting, all within the space of a couple of months, I or ten weeks, if it is intended to be conducted as a sport. It all smacks too much of a greedy hurry to beat any one else to the establishment of a race course. It surely sounds like a busi ness rather than a sporting ventue, and if it is such, it can only work harm. Those who have worked intelligently for the restoration of racing in St. Louis are to be commended. It is to be commended when any honest effort is made to expand the turf and afford new opportunities for the thoroughbred horse. But it all must be carried out by sportsmen of means and known reputation — men who can afford to pay for their fun and men who have no desire to obtain a revenue from the sport. That is the only spirit that makes the turf endure and, as a matter of fact, it is th.; only system that can make racing self-suDportin. Had it not been for the sportsmen who year after year have supported the turf with their wealth and their talents with no pecuniary returns and in fact a heavy financial loss, the turf would never have continued in the face of the attacks that have come from the out A side. It is meetings for revenue only that give the enemies of the sport most of their ammunition and it is to be hoped that St. Louis, with its present chance for a restoration of racing, is not to fall into the hands of those who care nothing for the thoroughbred horse and whose only vision of racing is that it is a good business venture. Considerable interest is being taken in the prospects of the Queens County Handicap, at a mile, to be run at Aqueduct Saturday. It is not thought likely that Zev will be seen at the post and possibly it will be some time before the son of The Finn and Miss Kearney again parades to the post after his disappointing showing in the Brooklyn Handicap Since the publication of the weights there have been no developments among the eligi-bles that has been as impressive as that of Henry Watersons Brainstorm. Under his burden of only 105 pounds he still seems to have a decided advantage and with favorable weather and track conditions he ought to be a hard horse to beak
