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Here and There on the Turf Epinard s Opponents. Upsetting of Form. Strange Winners Appear. Consistency of Sanola. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, there comes an upset of all form in racing. Saturday was such a day at Saratoga. The upsets applied to races where it is natural to expect a verification of form. There was not so much surprise that Joseph E. Davis" El Kan-tara should win the North American Steeplechase, for he has on various occasions shown himself to be a rarely good jumper, but there -was some surprise that he should beat Autumn Bells at his own game, speed, and clip two and four-fifths of a second off the previous record for the course. But in the Spinaway Stakes past performances counted for naught. Blue Warbler may be a high-class filly, but it did not seem to be in the cards that she would be a winner from such proved good ones as Royalite, Maid at Arms, Swinging and Mother Goose, yet not one of these finished in the first three, while Kitty Pat, the Kentucky filly, and carrying top weight, was never in the picture. "What was the big surprise was that Maibird and lightship should be fighting it out with the winner. There was no interpretation of previous performances that could bring these two fillies in front of the good ones they defeated so thoroughly. All of this greatly complicates the estimates of two-year-old fillies. There did not seem to be excuse enough to account for the showing of the good ones, while the ones that had shown comparatively scant spsed before showed phenomenal improvement. And the victory of Gifford A. Cochrans Sun Flag in the mile and a quarter of the Travers Stakes was the same sort of a surprise. On frequent occasions Sun Flag has shown plenty of speed, but never had he shown the speed and stamina that would warrant the belief that he would gallop home the winner by six lengths from such good ones as Aga Khan, Klondyke, Lucky Play and Bob Tail, conqueror of Black Gold in the Raceland Dsrby. It was expected that Sun Flag would show plenty of speed, but it surely was not expected that he would run away from such opponents at the end of such a distance. It must be said, in excuse for the showing! of Lucky Play, that he ran out badly on the turns and in addition to racing unkindly quit in a way to suggest that he was not ready, but the others that had shown much more as long-route runners at no time threatened the son of Sun Briar. Klondyke, though his recent races have been excellent, had none of the dash that has has characterized his recent races, while Bob Tail ran a miserably poor race. Of course, Klondyke has shown his good performances under lighter weight, but even at the weight difference his race was decidedly disappointing. The answer to it all was that past performances offered no guide to the possible Saratoga winners Saturday. With the continued favorable reports of the progress of Pierre Wcrtheimers Epinard in preparation for his three-quarters engagement at Belmont Park on Labor Day, there comes the question of the horses that are to oppose him. The nominations make certain that the distinguished visitor will have strong opposition in his first race and, should he be returned the winner, there will be little doubt of his sprinting superiority over the best in this country. It is unfortunate that Sarazen is not eligible to this first one of the three engagements, for three-quarters is probably the best distance for the son of High Time and Rush Box, but there are others well able to defend the honor of American sprinters. Thus far it is assured that three in the field, with weight and jockeys, will be: Epinard, 130, Everett Hayncs; Wise Counsellor, 125, Frank Keogh ; Baffling, 125, Lawrence Lyke. But Wise Counsellor and Baffling have been named as certain starters for the first of the International races, and from the manner in which each has been coming up to the race, it is assured that if there are no other starters, Epinard will have worthy opposition. Sanola, the consistent three-year-old daughter of Sain and Anola, by Sempronius, continues to be a bright and a particular star of the Hawthorne racing. This good filly earned her eighth victory in the thirty-nine days of racing over the Cicero track when she scored in the Great Northern Hotel Handicap, at three-quarters. Sanola has found the going at Hawthorne much to her advantage and trainer Jones has shown great skill in keeping her on winning edge for so long a time. It was also of interest in the Saturday racing at Hawthorne to see Giblon return to the races in winning form. This good colt was injured in the Chicago Derby and had been away from the races since that time. His return adds another good thres-year-old to the Chicago list for the races that are to come before the close of that long meeting.
