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Here and There on the Turf Where LadMn Belongs. Mad Plays Bad Race. St. James for the Farm. On Contract Biders. Now it is Ladkin, August Belmonts homebred son of Fair Play and the Negofol mare Lading, which has been heralded as the three-year-old of the year. Louis Feustel has proclaimed him another Man o War and he developed the superhorse and should know. Thus the merry game of picking the three-year-old champion goes on and for the moment Ladkin is the champion. In fact, he has been enthusiastically, crowned the best three-year-old in the world. All because he was the winner of the Carlton Stakes at Aqueduct Tuesday. It is possible that Ladkin will prove that none of the laurel wreaths is extravagant. He may be the best three-year-old in the country and the best three-year-old in the world. He may be another Man o War and it may be many a year before his equal is seen again, but it is, to say the least, dangerous to plant a championship crown on his head at this time. It is admitted that Ladkin ran a phenomenal race when he won the Carlton Stakes with such consummate ease. It was a victory that was calculated to call forth some superlatives when talking of the fast-running colt, but he has a long way to go before he will convince that he is another Man o War and he still has to go further thanfhe Carlton Stakes before he can be hailed as the best of the year. The pace was terrific in the Carlton Stakes, and, what made the Ladkin performance so remarkable, was that he was able to come on through the stretch to an easy victory. But it must be remembered that Laurano, the colt that was making that suicidal pace, only gave way in the last eighth. He had run the first quarter in 22, the half in 45 and three-quarters in 1:10. It was rather that he came back to Ladkin than that Ladkin was showing any phenomenal speed in the last quarter. As a matter of fact, the last quarter of the Carlton Stakes was run in 26 seconds. The first quarter was 22 ; the second, 23, third 25 and the last 26. That is the story of how uneven the pace was in the running of the Carlton Stakes. It is not meant by any of this that Ladkin did not run a truly good race, but when it is analyzed there is every reason for Laurano coming back to the Belmont colt in that rush through the stretch. Ladkin was in receipt of three pounds from Laurano and Worthmore, while it is just possible that both Bracadale and Mad Play have had a bit too much racing. They have been in training since early in the spring, when they were being made ready for the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby, and they have had some hard races. Ladkin, on the other ; hand, seems to be just coming to his real form. He may wind up the year the champion, but it is just a bit premature to crown him king of his division on this one brilliant performance. Hildreth has decided that the Rancocas Stable will have no starter in the Latonia Derby, and it is just as well, in the light of vthe showing of Mad Play in the Carlton Stakes. If that race is a true index of his present form, it would be a waste of time to send him to Latonia. There are other eligibles in the Rancocas Stable, but Mad Play was the main dependence. Apart from the showing of the son of Fair Play and Madcap is the fact that the present hot spell would make the trip to Kentucky a trying one on the colt and that had much to do with the decision not to try for the big race. At this time it would seem that possibly H. C. Fishers Mr. Mutt will be about the best that will represent New York at Latonia on Saturday. This colt ran a smashing race behind Mad Play in the Belmont Stakes and if he will come back to that performance he ought to be a hard colt to beat in the mile and a half Derby. It has been definitely decided to retire St. James, the magnificent three-year-old son of Ambassador IV. and Bobolink H. George D. Widener, after a conference with A. J. Joyner, his trainer, who developed the colt, reached that decision Tuesday. This news will be unwelcome to patrons of the turf, for when the Futurity winner of last year won the Pau-monok Handicap so impressively in his only start as a threa-year-cld it was small wonder that he was looked upon as a prospective champion of the year. It is natural that Earl Sande should be in ready demand any time he is not engaged in riding for his contract employer, Harry F. Sinclair, but there always will be no end of criticism when he has an outside mount and a Rancocas Stable starter is the winner. That was the cass at Aqueduct Thursday when Sande rode August Belmonts Lucky Play, and it was Rival, ridden by the younger Fator, which won. What made it doubly unfortunate was the fact that Lucky Play appeared to some to be best and the colt that should have been the winner but for misfortune in the running. Too many are prone to blame the rider, and there was nasty criticism of the ride of the first jockey of the Sinclair establishment. Sande made some mistakes in the riding of Lucky Play, and they contributed to his defeat, but those who watched closely, and without bias, could not charge him with not trying to win. He ran into a stretch pocket that gave his mount no chance just when he appeared to be going better than anything else in the race, and it not only helped to cost him the race, mut second placa as well. There is no rule that prohibits a stable jockey from riding against his own stable, but it would be well if trainers would not permit their riders to accept mounts on such occasions.
