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Here and There on the Turf Opening at Bowie. Big Stables Represented. New York Scratch Rule. Exodus From Tijuana. The long winter wait for the return of the thoroughbreds is over. The hor.-es are back in Man land and today the Bowie gates will be thrown open for the eleven-day meeting that brings back spring racing. Never before in the history of the Southern Maryland Association have there been as many horses fit and ready to race and never before has there l een horses of such good average class to fur nish the entertainment. While it is to be deplored that Ohio has planned such a crowded mass of racing this year, it has accomplished cne good. It has afforded an outlet and a field of endeavor for horses that would have scant chance over the big circuits. Time was when Bowie was considered as the legitimate field for ths slower grade of horses. But that was long ago. That meeting no longer abounds in "soft spots." The class of horses is such that it is no place for the string of cheap ones to hope for success. The sportsman who would campaign successfully at the Southern Maryland course had better be equipped with fairly good class horses, if he is to make it a paying venture. For a considerable time Baltimore and Washington have been attracting horsemen in anticipation of the opening of the spring racing season and in both cities the one topic has been hcrse for a considerable time. Hotels are filled and there is more of the sport in the air than ever before. Richard Pending, superintendent of Bowie, has all in readiness for the opening and while few changes will be found at the course, there have been some made looking to the comfort and convenience of the crowd*. The train arrangements of the Washington, Baltimore | and Annapolis Electric line have been made j looking to a better conveyance of the crowds and altogether nothing reruuins to be done for the big opening. Just one evidence of how Bowie has grown in importance is the fact that the big string of the H. P. Whitney horses have been fitted for what is offered. Time was when the Whitney colors were never shown before the open ing of the New York racing season, but that was before Maryland had grown to its present importance in the turf scheme. Not to have campaigned through the spring in Maryland is to have missed some rich opportunities, and it has also been found a most desirable ground over which to fit horses for what is offered later in the year. And the Whitney string is only one of the many big establishments that has put forward the opening of a campaign to take in Bowie and Havre de Grace before New York calls. Then there are the horses of Willis Sharpe Kilmer and of the Xalapa Farm Stable. Those of Richard T. Wilson, Walter J. Salmon, the Greentree Stable and ever so many otherr that begin at one of the Maryland meetings rather than wait for the New York opening All of this tells of the steadily growing importance of Maryland racing and of its importance on the American turf. Abou; this time every year there is awakened the question of added starters and of a scratch rule. It is not admitted that there is any good reason for the added starter, but it is insisted that there is every reason for a scratch rule in New York that would prohibit the withdrawal of any horse without the con- | j sent of the stewards after 10 oclock on th? forenoon of the day of running. That is an amendment to the New York racing laws that surely should be made. Another rule that would work great good would be a regulation against the naming of a horse in several different races on the same day. That could easily be remedied by the rule that bars the naming of a horse for more than one race, unless in the case of a ] stake race or handicap. This is an old abuse in New York. The same horse is named in two or even three races, and there is no intention of starting him in more than one. The reason for naming him in the others is obvious, and it is nt clean sport. He is named to scare away others and then at the eleventh hour he is j withdrawn in the interest of some other starter. It is a bit of collusion that is contrary to the! best interests of the turf. This, of course, would lose its sting with the early scratch rule, but the fact of this horse being sent out over night in two or three races works harm that should not exist. With the running of the Ooffroth Handicap at Tijuana Sunday there will be a general exodus of horses of the better class from the Mexican track, and within a short time the KaMern training grounds will have these winter campaigners to look after. Not a few of them will go t; Kentucky, but New York and Maryland will have a goodly share and with them will come the riders that have been kept employed in the far west through the winter months.
