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Here and There on the Turf Epinards Glorious Defeat. Ladkin a Eeal Champion. Star Lores Good Race. Altawoods Victory. Pierre Wertheimers great four-year-old, though beaten in both of the International races in which he has started, is a bigger figure today in racing than ever before. He was glorious in his defeats, and in each race excuses could be found, but they were not offered. It was the sporting thing for Everett Haynes to deny that he had been bothered by Steve ODonnell, on .Wise Counseller, Saturday. It would have been a calamity if a squabble should have come out of the running of one of the greatest races ever decided in this country. Epinard came out of the race almost as big a hero as August Belmonts Ladkin, and to many he loomed even bigger than the winner, by reason of that marvellous stretch rush that was just a stride short of victory. But . while these excuses are being offered for the invader, it must be remembered that the winner gave a marvellous exhibition of both speed and gameness. It must not be forgotten that while Epinard was eased back in that terrific early pace, Ladkin was out there putting away as fast a colt as Wise Counsellor, the colt that had won the first International Special, a colt that had proved himself in that race to be one of the best sprinters in this or any other country. To remember that Ladkin and Wise Counsellor covered the first half mile of that great race in 45 seconds and went to the three-quarters in 1:10, offers an illuminating idea of his gameness to finish out the mile in 1:36, to nose out Epinard. It would have been interesting to see just what would have happened had Epinard gone along with Ladkin and Wise Counssllor in the early racing. It could hardly have produced a better contest, and it would have been a question of stamina through the last eighth. Epinard was catching Ladkin with every stride and one more would have seen him the winner, but Epinard had not run a first half in 45, and that surely makes a difference. Nothing can be taken from Ladkin, while making excuses for Epinard, but it must be admitted that the invader lost none of his prestige by his glorious defeat. His running through the last eighth of that mile will always be remembered by all who had the good fortune to see the great race, and it will be many a day before there is a like exhibition. And the difference between a good ride and a bad ride is the breadth of a hair. Had Epinard got up to win that great race in the last nod, Haynes would have been lauded for having saved him in the early racing, white Kummer would have been censured for having raced Ladkin into exhaustion. If the American fleet had been blown to atoms when Dewey went into Manila Bay, he would have been a fool rather than a hero. It is a breadth of a hair. With such terrific pace setting it is marvelous that Ladkin was able to withstand that closing rush of Epinard, but he lasted and just lasted to be winner. Kummer said after iHe race that he would have been beaten in another stride and all who watched the result agree. If Haynes had moved just a stride sooner on Epinard, it woufd have been a different result, but no matter how the race is analyzed it was one of the most magnificent ever seen in this country and it means much for the mile and a quarter race to be run at Latonia on October 11. Mr. Wertheimers colt, rather than having lost supporters in his two races, has gained them by his magnificent performances, even though beaten and it is probable that at this time a consensus of opinion of the expert handicappers would give him the call over the others that will oppose him at Latonia. When it is all over it. would be a wonderful race for the winners of the International races to meet in another special, over a distance to be agreed upon. Probably an offer for such a race will be forthcoming from either Kentucky or Maryland and it would be a race such as never before has been arranged in this or any other country. Had it not been for the International mile race at Aqueduct there was another racs decided on the same program that would have attracted wide attention, but it was overshadowed by the older horses. That was the Junior Champion Stakes that fell to William Zeigler Jr.s Star Lore, a son of Sir Martin and Astrology, by Star Shoot. In this race Star Lore turned in a mile in 1 :37 and it was a remarkable race for a two-year-old. Last year there were twenty-four races for two-year-olds at the mile dis tance and only one of these was run in faster time than 1 :38. That was when Wise Counsellor won the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs when he raced in 1 :37, ... the fastest time ever hung up in this country by a two-year-old over such a distance. That gives the performance of Mr. Zeiglers colt great additional importance and gives him a new place among the two-year-olds of the year. Mr. Zeigler is a comparatively recent recruit to racing, but there is no more ardent sportsman and he was a purchaser at the yearling sales of offerings that suggest his determination to build up a truly strong stable. There was some surprise over the defeat of My Play in the running of the Latonia Cup Saturday. Those who had seen "the brother to Man o War score his easy victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park felt sure that he would add the Kentucky race to his list, even though he gave away considerable weight. There is some satisfaction in the knowledge that Altawood had to equal the track record of 3:49 for the two miles and a quarter to take the measure of the Simms long route champion. In the Jockey Club Gold Cup My Play was good enough to make the pace and still have plenty of speed left at the finish. That plan was so successful at Belmont Park that Schuttinger employed the same tactics at Latonia, but Altawood proved too much for him. Both Altawood and My Play are eligible for the third International Special of a mite and a quarter, to be run at Latonia October 11, and they have not yet measured strides with Epinard. And then after that big race there is another feature of tremendous racing importance at Latonia in the Latonia Championship Stakes, to be run October 18. This race of a mile and three-quarters at weight for age, for three-year-olds exclusively, to which 5,-000 is added. Unfortunately, Ladkin was not named for this race and Altawood is another that is not eligible, but with few exceptions the best three-year-olds of the year are named to try for that big race. It is probable that Earl Sande missed racing last Saturday more than he has at any time since his unfortunate fall at Saratoga that has kept him bedridden since, nursing a badly broken leg. Had Sande been able he surely would have had a mount in the race, and there never was a jockey that had a keener joy in riding than this same Sande. The broken leg has been knitting so satisfactorily that now it is only a question of days before he is out of the Roosevelt hospital. And he wants to ride again. What is worth while is to know that he wants to ride again. Even should he not be seen in the saddle Sands will not be lost to the turf, for he will be in ready demand as a trainer. And he is something more than a jockey. He is a born horseman and has all the attributes that should go to make him a first-class conditioner of horses. Reports come from Paris that William Duke has resigned from the stable of Aga Khan and that he will return to this country to train. It is not known whether or not Mr. Duke has attached himself to any of the big American stables at thjs time, but he will ba a" valuable addition to the turf on this side of the Atlantic.
