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Here and There on the Turf Return of Worthmore. Failure of Escarra. On Sweeping Away. How Wilderness Failed. It was unfortunate that there should have been such cold disagreeable weather for the opening of the New York racing season at Jamaica Wednesday, but in spite of that condition the opening was a brilliant one. It was a big crowd that braved the wintry weather and the racing was good class, in spite of the high cold wind that militated against the results. The adequate return of Worthmore in the Paumonok Handicap puts him in the forefront of the sprinters of the year when he shouldered 123 pounds, overcame no end of difficulty and came home the winner after a particularly game finish. The race also dem onstrated conclusively that Earl Sande has lost none of his nerve and is still a powerful rider. Worthmore was so badly cut off at a critical part of the running that his chance seemed hopeless and it would have be?n hopeless with a less skilled or a timid rider in the saddle. Sande kept the big sprinter together and came out of his difficulty with his mount well back in his stride, and then in the stretch h? fairly lifted him home to nose out Noah. But while discussing this race it must be admitted that Noah himtelf had just a modicum of bad luck at the start. He was slightly impeded as the barrier rose and, while he quickly found his way into the lead, with better luck at the rise of the barrier a colt of his speed would have had a long lead without the effort it cost him to get to the front. It was a great renewal of the Paumonok Handicap in the finish that was staged and ; demonstrated that Worthmore is a good game , ; sprinter, while Noah at best is only a colt of great speed, but with scant courage. The Suffolk Stakes gave much of a surprise when Cannae and Wormwold finished first and second. Wormwold was raced at Miami 1 and later in Maryland and he showed little in his races, while Cannae, in two starts in Maryland, showed nothing worth while. On the I other hand Escarra in his one race at New , Orleans took the measure of both Dark Jest and Navigator and was considered by many good judges as the best two-year-old of that " meeting. Escarra began a bit slowly, but after " he was away in the Suffolk he showed nothing . to suggest remotely that he is a good colt. Sweeping Away, the brown son of Sweep . and Lady Eastman, that races for the Xal-apa Farm Stable of Edward F. Sims, upset ; some Preakness Stakes calculations at Havre de Grace Wednesday, when he won the 0. 000 Chesapeake Stakes. Back of this colt there were four eligiblcs to the Preakness Stakes, but the track condition had brought about the scratching of some of the best that had been named, so that the victory- of the Ml of Sweep could not be rated as a real surprise. Sweeping Away was not brought to the races until last October and on the occasion of his first start he finished second. His next outing brought him victory and he was not raced again until this year. He won his first race at Havre de Grace and on thp occasion of his second race he was beaten by Chantey, when that colt ran such a remarkable race last Saturday. His Chesapeake Stakes was his fifth racing venture, so that his score stands three firsts and two seconds in his five races. Sweeping Away may prove himself right through the racing season and he has already shown enough to be seriously considered. He at j ears to be much at home in the mud, and has shown ability to maintain his speed well over any sort of going. But, after all, while the Chesapeake Stakes has always been considered an excellent final trial for the Preakness Stakes, there never has been a Chesapeake Stakes winner that triumphed in the Pimlico feature. The Chesapeake Stakes was first run in 1920, when Sandy Beal was the winner, while it was Man o War that won the Preakness Stakes. In 1921 Walter J. Salmons Careful was winner of the Chesapeake Stakes, and H. P. Whitney i Brooraspun won the Preakness St akes. The next year H. P. Whitneys Bunting was the winner of the Chesapeake Stakes and R. T. Wilsons Pillory won the Preakness Stakes. In 1923 Richard T. Wilsons Wilderness took the Chesapeake Stakes and Walter J. Salmons Virgil was the victor in the Preakness Stakes. Last year J. S. Cosdens Nautical won the Chesapeake Stakes and the Preakness Stakes fell to H. C. "Bud Fishers Nellie Morse. Thu it will be seen that after all th° Chesapeaki Stakes has not reflected the Preakness Stakes winner. There was another of the Havre de Grace races Wednesday that afforded a new line on a good horse when Wilderness was beaten in the running of the mile and seventy yards of the Greenwich Purse. Under 118 pounds, and over a track that has always been to his liking, this good five-year-old was beaten by the lightly weighted Judge Fuller. In a previous race Wilderness had shown a return to form that suggested his being in the Dixie Handicap exceedingly well but his defeat by Judge Fuller may bring a revision of that opinion. It is just possibhj that Maiben was a bit overconfident in his riding of Wilderness, but, in any event, his defeat was a disappointment in the light of what he had shown in a previous race. Thus it comes about that two of the nominees to the Dude Handicap that seemed to have been leniently treated, in relation to the 130 pounds Saraxen is required to take up, have failed in their latest races. The other was Transmute, one of the H. P. Whitney hopes. His race last Saturday indicated that he had come back a particularly good one, but he was soundly beaten in the Preliminary Handicap, run Tuesday, when he could only finish fourth to Joy Smoke, Flames and Aga Khan. These are two races that would tend to show that after all there may have been no mistake when Saraien was asked to shoulder 130 pounds to 114 on Transmute and 116 04 Wddernesa,
