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Here and There on the Turf Judge Price Eliminated. Master Charlies Mishaps. Chanteys Quality Dixie Handicap Outlook. When the Kentucky Racing Commission saw fit to eliminate judge Charles F. Price frcm the board of stewards that sits in judgment on the racing on the track of the Kentucky Jockey Club, they denied racing one of the most efficient and upright sportsmen that ever graced a stewards stand. In his long years of service as a racing judge no man has enjoyed a fuller degree of confidence and respect among sportsmen whose confidence and respect are worth holding. Judge Price has no peer in his knowledge of racing and he ever ruled with unfailing integrity and justness. The turf will not lose Charles F. Price, for he will still be identified with the sport, but the man who steps into his shoes will find a tremendous contract to fill the office as it was filled by this sterling gentleman. It was known some time ago that there was opposition to judge Price in some quarters, but it was not known that this opposition would be strong enough to sway the commission as it has been swayed. The long ; record of faithful and wise service evidently did not enter into the discussion of naming of stewards for 1925. If it had, there could have ; been no such action as was taken. Racing has been firmly entrenched in Kentucky for a considerable time, but it was i firmly entrenched by reason of the manner in which the rules were enforced. The stewards can make or wreck the sport by the manner • in which they administer racing laws and any commission that is so short-sighted as to let t anything other than integrity and fitness for r the office influence it in the appointment of stewards is false to its trust cf fostering the » best interest of the turf. By this there is no intention to intimate that the stewards who are to serve this year are lacking in integrity or fitness, but no k official in Kentucky or anywhere else was better fitted for the high office than Charles F. Price, the man who has been eliminated from the stewards stand. This action cf the Kentucky Racing Com mission is, to say the least, an unpopular one with the right thinking men of the turf, not alone in Kentucky, but everywhere horses are raced, for judge Price was admired and respected throughout every turf section of the e count ry. It is a calamity that William Daniels Mister Charlie should have gone amiss again, ju when he appeared to be training so magnificently for his engagement in the Chesapeake-Stakes, B Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby The son of Lord Archer came out of his mile e workout at Jamaica Monday morning so badly ■ lame that there appears to be little chance for r his making any of these important races. This was to have been a final move befo.-e e shipping the colt tj Havre de Grace for the Chesapeake Stakes, to be run Wednesday. Be tore this the colt had been doing all that had il been asked of him brilliantly and his lamenes,-after • the gallop of a mile in 1 A2*/i was ■i i bitter disappointment to Andy Blakeley. The fact that Master CharUe has always been afflicted with weak underpinning offers l] less chance for Blakeley to bring him back k than would be ] ossibIe with a colt that w:t e B e ■ r e il • ■i i l] k not weak in the legs. Last year a splint gave Master Charlie no end of trouble and it took all of Blakeleys skill to keep him going, but he kept him going to such good advantage that he wound up the year the greatest of all the money winning two-year-olds. It is probable that Blakeley will bring Master Charlie J j back again, but with the Preakness Stakes to j i be run Mav " 8, and the Kentucky Derbv com-1 ! . ing on May 16, it does not seem to be remotely possible to have the colt ready for these gret spring stake races. When the Greentree Stables Chantey won , his sensational race in new track record time , ! at Havre de Grace Saturday, there loomed up , i | prominently another Kentucky Derby eligibh. This well made son of Pennant and Enchant ing was afflicted with weak ankles last ye:ir | and for that reason he was not seen under , colors. This spring he has been training sound-e i ly, although when he paraded to the post boh ; ankles were liberallv painted with iodine. tLi came out of the race apparently in good con I dition, and there is every hope that he will 1 train on s-uccff sfully. That is all that lie ! ; needs to do to occupy a high place ainjng | sthe thre? year-olds of the year. I This race was the first start for Chantev. , ! i and what made it so tremendously sensational ■JVfJi the fact that for the first half mile of I J j j i ! , , ! , i | , i ; I 1 ! ; | I , ! I the mile and seventy yards he ran so green that he seemed to be hopelessly out of the running. It did not appear a lack of ability to be under way, but the colt did not seem to know what was expected. When he finally settled into a real racing stride, after half of the distance had been covered, his long friction- lesj stride carried him around his opponent-;, and at the end h; was pricking his ears in a manner to show conclusively that he had wou with little effort. While built along racy line-, and a colt of plenty of power, Chantey has a filly head, and it does not suggest the sturdy racing power that he displayed in his on y start. As the date for the running of the Dixie Handicap approaches it becomes more and more evident that the big mile and three-six - teenths dash will see a great race. Some of the prominent eligibles that have already shown fitness for the trying journey are Sarazen, the top weight ; Wilderness, Transmute, Big Blaze, which conquered Sarazen last fall, and Chan-I tey, the sensational three-year-old from the Greentree Stable. It is not expected that Chantey will be started, and, in fact, he will i not go in the Preakness Stakes unless there |icom?s a change in the stable plans. It was j intended before his winning race at Havre de i j Grace, that he would find his first big engagement in the Kentucky Derby. The racing this spring would suggest that Sarazen has been treated a bit harshly when he is asked to shoulder 130 pounds, when it is compared with only 114 pounds for Transmute and 116 for the five-year old Wilderness. Big Blaze also seems to have a bit the better of the argument over Mrs. Vanderbilts champion when he is in under 11G pounds. In this connection it is interesting to compare the Dixie weights with those Walter S. Vosburgh assigned for the mile of the Metropolitan Handicap, a shorter distance by three-sixteenths. Sarazen is in the Metropolitan under 128 pounds, against his 130 in the Dixie. In the Metropolitan he only concedes tea pounds to Wilderness and twelve each to Transmute and Big Blaze. In the Dixie Handicap he is required to give Transmute sixteen pounds and fourteen each to Big Blaze and Wilderness. This is rather a wide difference and it would seem that either Frank Bryan has rat;d the son of High Time and Rush Box a bit high or that Mr. Vosburgh has made one ol his few mistakes. The running of the Dixie Handicap should settle this question, for at this time the four under discussion are intended as starters in the 5,000 race.
