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Here and There on the Turf End of the Kentucky Season. The Saratoga Stakes. Fair Grounds Importance. Juveniles in the Fall. The curtain has been rung down on the 1924 season of Kentucky racing. The racing of Saturday brought that long season to an end. Racing at Lexington, as was to be expected at this season of the year, has bsen handicapped not a little by inclement weather, but in spite of these unfavorable conditions it was thoroughly successful. The race goer is a hardy fellow and racing is by no means a fair weather sport. Of course bad weather always has its effect on attendance, but fortunately the turf has a sturdy lot of regulars who would never think of missing a day just because the weather was uncomfortable. Already many of the Kentucky stables have moved south to New Orleans. Several of the horses that have made the trip will be rested through the month of Decamber, to be ready for what is offered at the Fair Grounds in January, but many others will be shown at the Jefferson Park meeting, which is to begin next Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. That Jefferson Park meeting has a peculiar interest, in that "it brings together horses from the East and the West. The Maryland stables meet the Kentucky stables and it offers something of a problem until the relative speed of those from the two sections is established. Through the long campaign there are few shipments from Kentucky to New York or Maryland, just as there are few shipments from New York and Maryland to Kentucky. Those that invade Kentucky from the East, or the Kentuckians that are brought East are the top notchers. They make the journey to fill some stake engagement. At Jefferson Park it is altogether different. There comes a meeting of the middle class horses from each section. Ths platers and the ordinary handicap division. The failures or successes of the summer travellers offers no complete line on this division and Jefferson Park, each fall, is the first real meeting of these horses. It is a lively and interesting battle of the two sections and as a general proposition one is just about as liberally reprc-eented as is the other. Another important list of stakes is to be closed Monday, December 1, the last day on which nominations may be made for the offerings of the Saratoga Association. This list takes in the United States Hotel Stakes, the Grand Union Hotel Stakes, each of 0,000 guaranteed value; the Spinaway Stakes, for fillies, of ,500 guaranteed; Grab Bag Handicap of ,000 guaranteed; Consolation Stakes of ,500, to be run in two races, and th2 Saratoga Sales Stakes, with ,500 added. Each of these is framed for two-year-olds. And the greatest of them all, the Hopeful Stakes of 0,000 guaranteed. In addition to thsse there are three of the 1926 stakes to be closed. These are the Travers, the Alabama for fillies "and tha Saratoga Sale Stakes. Each of these is a three-year-old race. While, with the exception of the Saratoga Sales Stakes, each of these is a guaranteed value race, they have a sporting and racing importance that always attracts a liberal entry. This is particularly true of the Hopeful Stakes, the best of the offerings for two-year-olds during the month of August. Last August, when Master Charlie was its winner, there were twenty-five starters and it had a guaranteed value of 0,000; but it ran some 0,000 over the guarantee when Master Charlies net share of the prize was 8,700, while Pas Seul earned ,000 for being second and Kentucky Cardinal was awarded ,000 when he finished third and there were other prizes. Taking a line through that most recent running, the Hopeful Stakes, while it docs not cost the Saratoga Association much, has great racing importance. First run in 1903, when Delhi was the winner, the roster of winners of the Hopeful Stakes is a notable one and some of the names found on the list are Tanya, Mohawk H., Peter Pan, Jim Gaffney, Helmet, Novelty, Regret, Dominant, Campfire, Sun Briar, Eternal, Man o War Leonardo n., Morvich, Dunlin and Diogenes. This is one of the races that the breeders can ill afford to overlook. There have been occasions when the best two-year-old of the year did not have a chance in this big race, and the oversight robbed the colt or filly of one of its richest chances, and both his sire and dam of the glory that would go to them through such a victory for one of their offspring. One more evidence of the growing importance of the winter racing at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, is furnished in the announcement that Willis Sharpe Kilmer will build a stable on the old racing ground. The New York sportsman and breeder has a fashion of doing things in a big way and it is assured that this will mean a campaign of importance in New Orleans. And Richard T. Wilson and H. P. Whitney are two other sportsmen who have signified their intention of doing likewise. This will mean big things for thand sport in the south, for whib it is possible that these turfmen may use the Fair Grounds as a training track for horses with early engagements farther north, there ar3 sure to be some that will be on hand to take part in the racing that is offered. The presence of such turfmen is a big thing for any race meeting. They are in racing for sport purely and they are men who are well able to go to any expense in the pursuit of that sport. They campaign horses that are calculated to show the breed at its best and all of this shows racing in its most attractive garb. The time has gone by when winter racing meant a gathering of horses from the "bushes." Winter racing tracks arc no longer the spot where the cheap no-account horse can win its way. One has to be equipped with good-class horses and good riders if he is to "win his way at one of the winter courses. The class of horses is constantly improving, and judging from the plans at the Fair Grounds, the class of horses bids fair to become better and better year after year. The low-class ones have their place and offer a part of the entertainment at every race meeting, but they will find no more chances, before long, at winter meetings in December, January, February and March than they will find at one of the big tracks in the summer. There is general regret at the sudden taking off of Andrew Devlin, who died in a Baltimore hospital Thursday night. Andy Devlin was a familiar figure on many race courses, but he was best known in New York racing. Though a hopeless cripple, and compelled to find his way about on crutches, he swung his way through, a model of cheerfulness. No stress of weather would keep Andy away from the race courses and for one so afflicted he covered a wide territory, when Canada, Maryland and New York all figured in his circuit. Devlin was at one time a cross-country rider, but was crippled when a victim of San Francisco thugs several years ago. It was at old Guttenebrg that Devlin first learned his racing lessons and he will be buried in the family plot not far from the old New Jersey race course. Earl Sande has had to return to the hospital. When the premier jockey was recently discharged from the hospital, where he stayed for so long nursing his badly broken leg, it was hoped that before long he would be able to throw away the canes he was using and be fully recovered. This time it is not the broken leg that has put Sande back in the hospital, but there is a fear he may have to undergo an operation for gallstones. This is not a serious operation, but it is just one more affliction to a gallant rider who has had more than his share of suffering this year. Two-year-clds come into their own in the fall days of racing and in a!l of the races for all ages it is well to give them serious consideration. This was shown by the easy victory of Walter J. Salmons Primrose at Bowie Friday. Primrose was the only two-year-old in that field of fiLies und on the scale she was ecu,- ceding weight to every starter when she took up 101 pounds. She just loafed along behind the leaders to come on to an easy victory when called on by Pierce. The two-year-clds will bear watching in any company for tha November racing days.
