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Here and There 2 on the Turf 4 I 5 Sarazen the Champion. i On Choosing Riders. , 7 Other Weight Carriers. Preakness and the Derby. 1 2 Sarazen is just the sort of champion that 3 would make a reputation for any jockey. ] 4 Karl Sande has said that the son of High Time and Rush Box was the easiest horse he 5 had ever ridden. But Max Hirsch made no 6 mistake when he chose the champion jockey , to ride the champion horse in the Dixie Handicap at Pimlico Friday. It was making assurance doubly sure and the combination of horse and rider was a perfect one. Too often a good hors? has been beaten by a bad ride and it is the height of foolishness 1 ; for any trainer to jeopardize the chance of | 4 his horse by assigning an incompetent rider. , When a good rider is available and the trainer • I does not avail himself of his services it is , usually done for the purpose of obtaining a "price." Frequently it is all that is obtained. The horse is beaten and he is beaten by reason 1 of the incompetent ride. It is not fair to th? ■ I horse and every turfman should think enough 1 of his horse to give him the best of everything obtainable on all occasions. It is entirely probable that Sarazen would have won the Dixie Handicap under many r another rider, he is such a willing, generous, big hearted champion, but, with Sande avail able, Hirsch gave his charge the best rider in the country and it was fitting that he should have the best. Horses like Sarazen. Man o War. Grey Lag, Exterminator and almost all the other champions were calculated to mak? reputations for r both trainers and riders. Exterminator was a striking example, for few horses had a greater r number of trainers than Exterminator during I his long career and many a rider can look back C with a degree of pride on rides he had on the ? mighty son of McGee and Fair Empress. Like Sarazen, Exterminator was an easy horse to ride and it did not require the same ■ amount of skill to obtain results. Man o War r was not an easy horse to ride. That is to 3 . say, he was such a "bull" at the post that he gave jockeys trouble, but once under way Man o War made no mistakes. Both Sarazen and Exterminator fit in well 1 with the instructions Maurice Welsh gave the e rider of Mickey Miles Coaler when he boosted J the lad into the saddle for what proved to be a a winning race, "Lave th harse use his own ti judgment. That was all Welsh told the kid and if ever there wer? two horses that such ti instructions would fit, they are Exterminator and Sarazen. But every horse is entitled to the best jockey „ available and when he is the victim of incom petent riding he is being cheated. Sarazen, by taking up 130 pounds and win ning the Dixie Handicap as brilliantly as h? did Friday, accomplished something that no other American four year old has accomplished. There have been four year olds that carried heavy imposts over a considerable distance • f ground, but not on May 1 as was required of Mrs. Vanderbilts great gelding. Sir Barton, when a four-year old, won the Merchants and Citizens Handicap at a mile and three sixteenths, but that was well on in the summer. Lucullite successfully carried 133 pounds in the Aqueduct Handicap, while Cudgel, when a four year old, was the winner of the Grainger Memorial Handicap under 132 pounds and the Brooklyn Handicap under 129, pounds. Grey Lag was the winner of the Empire City Handicap under 132 pounds and Zev won the Kings County Handicap at a mile and I a sixteenth under 130 pounds. Then, of the older stars, Whisk Broom II. took up 139 pounds in the Suburban Handicap and Grey Lag won the same race under 135 pounds. Exterminator won the Brooklyn Handicap under 133 pounds and the Grainger Memorial Handicap under 13S pounds, but these big weights came long after May 1 and they were carried by horses more mature than four years. It was a wonderful race by a wonderful | horse and, with such a beginning, there is no telling just how far the little chestnut will climb to fame again this year. When Walter S. Vosburgh assigned the weights for the Metropolitan Handicap at a mile he made a wise provision to protect such a champion as Saraicn. The champion is handicapped at 128 pounds for the opening 1 feature at Belmont Park and, under the con- | 1 ditions of the handicap, he will not take up any penalty by reason of carrying 130 pounds to victory in the Dixie Handicap. The Metropolitan conditions provide that penalties do not apply to horses handicapped at 128 pounds. And this is well, for it affords such a horse a chance that he would be denied if penalties were permitted to pile up without limit. There is no good reason to pile excessive weight on the good horses to make room for cattle that do not belong and by a scaling down of the others th" same results should be obtained. In the case of Sarazen, he is a delicate horse and one whose races must not come too close together. The Metropolitan Handicap is far enough away for Sarazen to come back as good as he was on Friday and Mr. Vosburgh is to be complimented in so fixing the penalties in | that ruc that the champion will not carry 140 pounds as would be the case without the proviso that penalties do not apply to horses handicapped as high as 128 pounds. Now with the Dixie Handicap tucked away and with Sarazen secure in his championship this early in the racing year, the next big decision is to come with the running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 8 and the Kentucky Derby, which is to follow at Churchill Downs, May 16. With these big races almost at hand there remains a wide diversity of opinion about the chances of the candidates and as one after anoth?r of the prominent eligibles fall by the wayside the races become much more open. It would appear possible that both of these great race3 will bring together larger and better matched fields than have contested in many a year.
