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Here and There on the Turf Fall Season Is Here. Master Charlies Score. Mr. Mutts Quality. Hawthorne 1925 Plans. New York has had its brilliant opening of the fall racing season. It is a season that has .been looked forward to eagerly and, while the combination of a public holiday and the first racing appearance of Pierre Wertheimers Epi-nard made certain a record-breaking crowd, there is an interest in the sport that needs no special attractions for success. Racing is . back in Maryland for the fall campaign with the opening of the Timonium meoting at Baltimore, while at other racing points the fall season has already begun. H-monium has grown until it plays an important part in the Maryland schedule and its meeting is to be followed by another of the smaller meetings, that of Marlboro, which brings the scheduh up to the first of the mile tracks. That is the Havre de Grace meeting, which is to begin September 24. Kentucky does not begin its fall racing until the opening of Latonia on September 13, but the programs have been made for Latonia, Churchill Downs and Lexington that may offer more brilliant racing than has ever before been enjoyed. Altogether the fall racing is really brighter in prospect than that which has already passed into history and thz Epinard races are only a part of the big importance of the racing season that is just beginning. Master Charlie, by his victory in the running of the 550,000 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Springs Saturday, has jumped many notches up in the race for the two-year-old championship. But Master Charlie had a deal of luck in the race. He met with absolutely -no interference, was fortunate enough to take a char lead in the first eighth and his victory amounted to defeating Single Foot and still having enough left to withstand the stretch challenge of Johnson N. Camdens Pas Seul. True, this was accomplished under a burden of 130 pounds and there never has been a higher weight carried to victory in the Hopeful Stakes. That in itself makes the victory of importance and he will go down in history as one of the notable winners of the rich rac2. It is impossible to expect every horse to have a fair running chance at Saratoga, or any other American course, when there are twenty-five in the field. The American courses are not constructed to take care of such a big band and even if the course was wide enough to afford the room it would be impossible to "have a truly run race around the turns. The only possible chance for a truly run race with as many horses competing would be through the straight, where the outsiders at the post would not have to travel any farther than those next to the inner rail. That is one strong argument for the much-abused races through the straight course at Belmont Park. All along Alex Gordon has insisted that Mr. Mutt was a good colt. After the running of the Kentucky Derby this year, he said, "You know, I think Mutt has been holding out on me. He can do it in the morning and I know he is fit." Mutt did not hold out on Gordon in the Saratoga Cup and he surely verified the high opinion Gordon has always had on his racing ability. Thurber made no mistakes in his riding of the son of Ballot and when it came to the real race through the last eighth, he ran past My Play with comparative ease, after never having been far away from the leader. That is to say, not far from Mr. Mutt. There were some who criticized Schuttingcr for making so much use of My Play, but it must be said that while the five-year-old was making the pace he was doing so under stiff restraint and it is extremely doubtful if the result would have bean changed had Schuttinger restrained him any more. It would have amounted to choking him and would undoubtedly have brought disaster. My Play was beaten by a sturdier route traveler and a colt that was hard and fit from long campaigning. The only other three-year-olds that have won the Saratoga Cup," since its first running a" Way back in 1865, have been Blues, Africander, Beldame, Olambala, Countless, Friar Reck, Omar Khayyam, Johren and My Own. In the early history of the Cup it was considered too severe a race for the three-year-olds, but it must be remembered that until 1891 the distance was two miles and a quarter, instead of the present mile and three-quarters, and no three-year-old won over the longer route. With the completion of the fifty-two days meeting at Hawthorne the success of Chicago racing has been such that already dates have been announced for the 1925 meeting that will insure fifty-eight days of racing. This would show conclusively that the meeting met with every success. For the 1925 meeting Hawthorne, will open its gates July 2 and will continue until September 6, which is Labor Day next year. The plans for the next meeting have abo progressed until it is announced that the Chicago Derby will have an added money value of 0,000 and will be. run July 11. There will be a renewal of the Chicago Special with 5,000 added and it is to be decided August 22, while, in addition to these big values, others have been decided upon. When plans are laid so far in advance there seems no chance for the meeting to fail. With a comparatively short time to make ready for the meeting that has just been concluded the results are satisfactory beyond expectations and with virtually a year to make ready for the 1925 meeting it is assured that there will be even better racing. Many of the good horses that would naturally ,have been sent on to Hawthorne for the Special were engaged at Saratoga and could hardly forego thosa engagements on short notice. Now, with such a prize in view, the Special will be included in the stake schedule of probably every high-class long-route traveler in the country. Announcement is made of the stakes, of the Maryland Jockey Club that" will be decided at the Pimlico meeting, which begins November 3 and continues until November 15. There are twelve days of racing and during that comparatively short meeting the prize list amounts to 23,330, a liberality seldom seen, even in these days of big turf values. There are twelve stakes in this list that are to be closed September 25 and of these four have 0,000 added. They include the Pimlico Cup, at two miles and a quarter; the Bowie Handicap, at a mile and a half; Manly Memorial Steeplechase, and the Walden Stakes, a mile dash for two-year-olds. In addition to these various stakes the Pimlico Nursery Stakes, to be run at the 1925 spring meeting, will be closed at the same time. The Maryland Jockey Club has long played an important part on the American turf and with its progressive liberality it will continue to be a club that means much to the thoroughbred interests.
