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Here and There on the Turf Aberdeen Promising. Sumpters Possibilities. Goldpiece Disappoints. Flying Clond in Form. At this time there is every promise that the Aberdeen Stakes, to be run at Havre de Grace Saturday, will be by long odds the most important offering for two-year-olds staged thus far this year. There are several of the young thoroughbreds on the eligible list that have showed undoubted promise and readiness for strenuous action. Already there is high promise for an abundance of good two-year-olds this year and that always makes for good racing. Fiddlesticks, the slashing big son of Pennant and Folderol, that races for H. P. Whitney, his breeder, is the latest to come into decided prominence. This colt, when he equaled the Havre de Grace track record of 53 seconds for four and a half furlongs Tuesday, accomplished that feat in a fashion that was particularly impressive and he may be the best of the Whitney band that will be raced through the Maryland campaign. Then in the Aberdeen, where doubtless Fiddlesticks will be started, he will meet Carl Wiedemanns unbeaten My Colonel. This colt by his two winning races at Miami and his verification of that form by a victory at Havre de Grace last Saturday has done all that has been required, even though he has hardly beaten one of the same speed as Fiddlesticks. Another in the Aberdeen Stakes that has shown high quality is William Daniels Escarra. rated by many good judges as the best two-year old uncovered at New Orleans. Navigator and Irresistible are a pair of the Greentree Stable eligibles of proved speed. Samuel Ross Cinema has proved her fleetness of foot and there is Hayai of the Lilane Stable, that took the measure cf the high-priced Collier so easily at Miami. Canter, J. E. Griffiths half brother to Single Foot, is an eligible to the Aberdeen Stakes and there is Centrifugal, which was a good second to Fiddlesticks Tuesday. These are just some of the two-year-olds of proved worth that are ready for the 0,000 race and they are some of the new crop of thoroughbreds that suggest an excellent year in that age division. Robert Odoms Sumpter, came to be a tw-year-old of parts late in 1924 and now it would seem that he is to take his place among the* real good three year olds. This good son uf Sand Mole and Isirose is an eligible to the Preakness Stakes and the present intention !s ; to bring him to the post on May 8. In the fall of last year this colt proved himself when he won the Endurance Stakes at a mile at Bowie, as well as winning on other occasions. It was in the Endurance Stakes that he stamped himself as a thoroughbred well quali fied to go on and he seems to have what is i required for the big three year old races. A mile and an eighth in 1 :57%, as he accom plished it over the Belmont Park track in h , recent workout, was enough to indicate that he is not far from racing condition. He h i 1 i considerable weight in the saddle and was under restraint all through that move. Shou!d 1 there come no interruption in his work .ie I ought to be fit for his best on May 8. There ; has been no hum- in the preparation of this particular candidate for three year old honors, but there has been steady improvement in hi* 1 condition from his first gallop and he seems I to be coming up to his campaign in ideal fashion. There are several of the new three year-olds ; ; i , i 1 I ; 1 I ; that may be considered most fashionable, but Sumpter appears to have many of the qualifications that every champion may possess, and it is well within the bounds of possibility that he will keep the best of them exceedingly busy. The first appearance of Mrs. Walter M. Jef fords Goldpiece can hardly be called impressive. This handsome son of Golden Brooii and Substitute will, of course, improve over the race he ran at Havre de Grace Wednesday, but he must improve greatly before he can be accorded a place among the good colts of the year. Goldpiece, though he left the post alertly, did not show that wonderful flash of speed that carried him into a long early lead in almost all of his two-year-cld races. There were times last year when his courage was questioned, but there was little question of his marvellous speed. He did not show that speed; in this, his first start, and while he was not named for the Preakness Stakes, he was not even up to that three-quarters dash. Probably I no effort will be made to have Goldpiece do j other than sprint this year, but even in that line of endeavor he will have to show muc ii more to be taken seriously. In that race Wednesday The Bat, which! was the winner for H. P. Whitney, does not colt, and there was nothing particularly bril liant about the running, yet Goldpiece was only able to finish fourth. Excuses may be made for the reason tint it was his first start, but the fact remains that it was disappointing, and the son of Golden Broom will have to prove himself all over again. It was small wonder that Flying Cloud w M claimed, in the light of his two winning races at Havre de Grace. This big horse was tak n out of his last race for ,500, and he see ■ to have ben a rare bargain. The slashing big son of Wrack and Robinetta was surely i cut out for a good horse, and, had it nn been for unsound underpinning, he would eas ily have had a place in the handicap division. Of course, an ordinary horse is always capa-bh of beating cheap ones in a manner to make him appear greater than the real acid test would disclose, but Flying Cloud is surely a good horse and, if he continues to train soundly it will readily be proved before the racing season is old. With the opening of New York racing near the stables are beginning to move to the Long Island training grounds, and many of the big racing establishments, now employed in Maryland, are sending a part of their horses to one or the other of the New York tracks. There remain important races at Havre de Grace, and then there is the big meeting of the Maryland Jockey Club at Pimlico, with the Dixie Handicap, the 0,000 Preakness Stakes and the many other valuable races, but there are horses enough and to spare, as is readily understood by a glance at the chars of recent Maryland racing. While on the number of horses it must i e remembered that for the steeplechase of Wednesday a new record in number of starters was made at Havre de Grace. There were sixteen went to the post, and while one of them Stockmar, a green jumper, did not complete the course, he did not fall. All of the others went through the motions and completed the course. The Havre de Grace course has low jumps, but in such a field of horses of the selling plater variety it is just a little remarkable that all should show such an aptitude for jumping. * ■ ■
