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Here and There on the Turf Belair Stud Successes. Skill of Fitzsimmons. Bad Juvenile Year. Openings at Hand. William Woodward, sportsman and breeder, has had many a pleasant thrill this season of racing; in fact, a greater number of pleasant thrills than in any year before on the turf. His latest came at Belmont Park Wednesday when Beatrice won the Champagne Stakes. The Champagne Stakes is ope of the truly old American races and it dates back to 1867, when Sarah B. carried the colors of D. Mc-Daniel to victory. Thus it is that the first winner of the famous old race and the last winner were fillies. It is one of the fine old races that is an inheritance from Jerome Park and it was decided over that old course until 1889, when the Dwyer Bros. June Day, son of Falsetto and Virga, was the winner. The following year David Gideons Hoodlum won at Morris Park and it was continued at the Westchester County course until its last meeting in 1904. Oiseau won for J. G. Greener. The first running of the race at Belmont Park saw H. P. Whitneys Perverse first home. There was a lapse in the history of the race from 1909 to 1914, but since that revival it has been continuous. In the history of the Champagne Stakes the roster of winners carries the name of many a turf champion and it is indeed an honor for any thoroughbred to have his name enrolled on that roster. Beatrice is a daughter of Jim Gaffney and Medora II., a mare that also gave that sturdy campaigner Little Chief to racing, and it was fitting that he should be a winner on the same days program. Beatrice was bred by Mr. Woodward at his Belair Stud and it is natural that the victory was doubly pleasing od that account. James Fitzsimmons has naturally shared in all of the successes that have come to the popular Woodward colors, and to his skill as a conditioner belongs not a little of the glory of the conquests. Fitzsimmons has had the material at hand to work on, but trainers of less skill would not have obtained like results. The Belair Stud has come to real importance during the racing season that has reached the autumn days, and it is safe to predict that new honors will come to it before the end of the racing year. Giving Beatrice every credit that she earned by her Champagne Stakes victory, it is clear that the victory was in the nature of a sur-price. Some of the best of the two-year-olds were absent from the field for the reason that the Futurity is to be run Saturday and they were being held in reserve for that big race, but it was a thoroughly good field, and the fact that it was over seven-eighths made it a doubly creditable performance. Many a two-year-old can show successfully at five and a half furlongs, or even three-quarters, but when the route is stretched out to seven-eighths it calls on something else besides mere speed. Beatrice had the speed and stamina to battle it out to a victory when it came to a fighting finish, qualities that are only enjoyed by horsc3 of good class. With the Futurity at hand there is still many differences of opinion as to its probable outcome. There is no colt or filly that stands out this year as did St. James last year and not one that appears to have the chance of a Sallys Alley, Bunting, Man o War, Sweep, Novelty, Pennant, Maskette, Colin, Electioneer, Artful, Hamburg Belle, Ballyhoo Bay and many others since the initial running when Sam Bryants Proctor Knott took the measure of the mighty Salvator. There have been surprises in some of the big races, for Master Charlie won the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga and Beatrice won the Champaigne Stakes at Belmont Park, while there were several others of the rich races that fell to horses that did not seem to have much of a chance on what they had shown in previous races. AH through the year prospective champions have only flashed up to be bowled over and, with the solitary exception of the Kentucky filly Sweep Park, thus far unbeaten, there is not an eligible in the list that has been to the races that shows real championship form. There is not one that has gone right through showing ability to give away weight and successfully meet all comers, as a champion must do to earn the crown. Long .ago it was agreed that it is an off-year for the two-year-olds and right on the eve of the running of the most prized of all the fixtures for two-year-olds the question of the championship in the age division is just about as much in the air as it was last May, when the.two.-year-olds were just beginning to appear. This should result in a better contest and it should also result in a tremendous field at the post. Ths good ones are so close together, on all that has been shown, that the question of racing luck will enter largely into the decision of the race and the man with an eligible that has been showing anything in its preparation, is justified in taking a sporting chance, even, though it is only an outside chance, that his colt may have the luck. There is always a chance for these same two-year-olds to develop through . the cold months and come to the races as three-year-olds with improved form, but unless they do it will be hard to find any colt or filly on which to rely for the Preakness Stakes, Kentucky and Latonia Derbys, the Belmont Stakes or the Lawrence Realization Stakes for 1925. It is an off year and this does not apply altogether to the two-year-olds. The three-year-olds have been beating one another in an alarming fashion and right now Wiss Counsellor, conqueror of Epinard, and the gelding Sarazen are about the only two that really measure up to championship class. They were both away from the races for so long in the early part of the racing season that they were robbed of no end of fame that would properly have come their way and each will have to crowd all their claims into a couple of months of endeavor. . . j Saturday Latonia throws open its gates for the meeting of the Kentucky Jockey Club that is to continue until October 18. Monday the racing scene in New York swings over to the Aqueduct course of the Queens County Jockey Club. At Latonia the opening feature is the Covington Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth and at Aqueduct the opening attraction is also a mile and a sixteenth handicap, the Bay-view, with ,500 added. The Covington Handicap promises a representative field of starters while there are eligible enough that are ready for the Bayview to give promise of its being a worth-while opening feature. Racing at Aurora has been attracting an un-epectedly large attendance and it is an attendance that augurs well for the success of the meeting. When Hawthorne scored so heavily in its long term of racing, it was demonstrated that Chicago is strong for the thoroughbred horse, but there was some apprehension when it was proposed to carry that patronage to Aurora. It meant something of a railroad journey each day and, altogether, was not on the doorstep of the city, as was Hawthorne. But Aurora has become instantly popular and its attendance has been steadily growing since the opening day. Now it is safe to predict that success has come to the meeting.
