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Here and There on the Turf A Big Day on the Turf. Rumors and Facts. Blakely Example Good. Arrivals at Belmont. With racing coming to both Kentucky and New York for the beginning of a long cam paign, April 25 is indeed a big dav for the turf. In Kentucky it is the beginning of the Lexington meeting of the Kentucky Associa-tion, which is to continue until May 6. In New York it is the first of the two days of racing furnished by the United Hunts Racing Association at beautiful Belmont Park. There will be a second day of racing at Belmont Park Monday by the same association and then on Wednesday the Metropolitan Jockey Club will begin its meeting at Jamaica with the running of the Paumonok Handicap. Prospects could not be brighter for a big turf season both in Kentucky and New York. Seldom before have there been as many horses ready for the call to th? post and never before has there been so many rich opoprtunities for the horses. The tremendous success that has attended the racing thus far in Maryland tells eloquently of the great appeal the sport has with the public and it is safe to predict, at this time, that the American turf will reach its crest wave of prosperity before the close of the 1925 racing. There was general consternation among those who have been taking a lively interest in the candidates for the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby when the rumor was circulated that William Daniels Master Charlie had a high fever and was in bad condition. Anything that happens to Master Charlie at this time is of vital interest and, like all other rumors, this one grew as it spread until it tcok in all the ailments to which the thoroughbred is heir. But it was only a rumor and a rumor with no foundation in fact. The champion two year-old of last year has suffered no setback. There has been no recur rence of his leg trouble and no remote symptom of fever. In this connection Andrew Blakely. who developed Master Charlie for Mr. Daniel and whose skill as a trainer had much to do with his great successes of last year, has at no time attempted to hide the real form of the champion. It will be remembered that early in the yer, when Master Charlie went amiss at New Orleans, Blakely promptly told of that condition. He rightly takes the view that such a horse as Master Charlie is more or less public property. But it was a thoughtful thing for Blakely to do, when at the time winter betting had begun on the Kentucky Derby, with Master Charlie the choice. When the son of Lord Archer recovered from a temporary lameness and began galloping again Blakely told of the recovery- of the colt and there has been no secret of just how he has been progressing. There should be no stable secrets where a champion is concerned and there have been no secrets with Master Charlie and his preparation this spring. Should Master Charlie become sick or go amiss, Blakely will let it be known, just as he has kept the pubic informed en his training of the colt all spring. This rule of the Blakely procedure with Master Charlie is to be recommended. Too often there are stable secrets that are not worth keeping, but where a real champion is concerned the public is so greatly interested that there should be no secrecy. The thoroughbred that races his way to as proud a position on the turf as Master Charlie, is too big a figure to be hidden. What he does in private, as well as in public, is of too wide concern to be a stable secret and from the li-ginning Blakely is to be commended for taking that view of his great colt. It is in the spring of the year that stable secrets are most prevalent. It is in the spring of the year that rumors abound. There is every reason with new two-year olds coming to the races and the old favorites coming back after a winter of idleness. There always will be stable secrets and there will always be thos? trainers who endeavor to hide the real form of their horses, and they have a ready reason. If the stable is a btting one, the reason is obvious. If the horse in question aspires to some of the big races of the turf, the trainer must beware of penalties and he must always have a wary eye for th? handicapper. He must see to it that his champion is not weighted out of big opportunities by reason of penalities earned early in the year, or weighted out of big handicaps by his early racing successes. Thus the trainer may readily and with good excuse hide his horse. But once the form of a horse has been established he is more cr less public property. Then it is that th? stable secret does not exactly belong. The trainer I who has a sick or lame horse should make the fact known. It is the spirting thing to do. With the coming cf the stables from the Kentucky courses to Belmont Park, there will be increased activity at the big training ground , of the Westchester Racing Association. Those j of H. C. Fisher and of Joseph E. Widener are the most recent arrivals, and they are important additions. Alex Gordon has been training Swope, the Fisher hope in both the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, at Douglas Park, and the reports of his progress have been excellent. This Fair Play colt, on frequent occasions last year, showed high speed that may give him a better position among the three-year-olds than he enjoyed among the two-year-olds last year. The coming of the Joseph E. Widener horses that G. H. Keene had in his care in Kentucky, meant the coming of Altawood, winner of both the Bowie and the Pimlico Cup handicaps last year. This three year-old has been training healthily, but he is not an eligible to the Dixie Handicap, and he was not named for the Metropolitan Handicap. He will probably be reserved for races of even a greater distance than either of these, for he is a nuro stayer.
