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Here and There on the Turf i 4 5 Jamaicas Saturday Crowd. 6 Eastern Two -Year-Olds. 7 Derby Hopes Shattered. East and West. 1 2 The crowd that turned out at Jamaica Saturday for the first half holiday card of the , new season may be taken as an indication of the public interest in the sport of racing. The J weather was cold enough to be unpleasant and yet the attendance was so great as to tax the capacity of the Metropolitan Jockey Clubs plant. 1 The double stake program might have had , something to do with the size of the crowd I : but it is probabb that the attendance would I have been just about as large if no stakes | whatever had been scheduled. It was the first opportunity of the new season for a great I number of racing enthusiasts to witness their f favorite sport, and nothing short of fire and 1 flood would have kept them away. The Colorado Stakes renewal did not attract | a particularly strong field of juveniles, and ■ 1 Navigators victory carries no great significance. The Greentree Stable youngs.er is un-. doubtedly a juvenile of fair quality, but he I hardly appears to be the stuff of which Champions are made. He was tiring badly after setting the pace all the way in the Colorado and he just lasted to beat James Butlers Turf Light. The Pimlico Nursery Stakes run at the Baltimore course Saturday attracted an even 1 smaller field than the Colorado. It resulted i in another victory for the Sagamore Stables I consistent colt Rock Man. and the experts who were inclined to discount this youngsters vie tory in the Aberdeen Stakes at Havre de Grace ? are beginning to think that they have to revise s their opinions. Sat "/days victory was hardy . enough to establish Rock Man as the best two-year old of the Maryland spring season, but it t did serve to show that his victory in the P Havre de Grace fixture was not a fluke. It showed also that Canter, the half brother to j Single Foot which was expected to show as much quality a* his older relative, is hardly up p to standard. Rock Man has now won three straight races and is as yet unbeaten. He has s beaten Canter twice and those who made ct e Griffith colt a favorite over him in the Pirn lica Nursery Stakes Saturday must realize* by y this time that the Sagamore Stable youngster is really ihe better horse. The rurvninir of the Wood Stakes, while it did not attract many of the best three year -elds j ! disposed of several Kentucky Derby candidate. -whose | abilities were being enormously overrated in certain quarters. The Whitney celt. I | Backbone, which won the race, has hardly been ! j mentioned as a strong candidate for Derby I honors. At least six cf those which finished . behind him Saturday have been more highly j i considered for the big race. A. A. Buschs Chief Uncas, which had been widely touted as a real speed marvel before his first start a few clays ago, has now demonstrated in two races that he has nothing at all except high early speed. He has quit badly in both his races after racing out in front at a fast pace for a few furl ngs. Saturdays race should dispose of him definitely so far as serious consideration for the Derby ir-concerned. II. C. Fishers Swope was carrying 120 pounds in the Wood Handicap and con ceding ten pounds to the winner, but the beating which he received from the Whitney colt was conclusive. It does not appear likely that he can be a sharp contender in the Derby unless he shows enormous improvement in j ! | I | ! j I . j i the brief space cf time remaining before the running. The Greentree Stables Hedgefence pulled up lame after finishing ninth in a twelve horse , field. He was carrying top weight of 123 j pounds. The Tijuana Derby winner is possibly out of the Kentucky classic anyway, because of his lameness, but few horsemen have taken the highly commendatory representative of this colts quality that came out of the West with too much seriousness. G. A. Cochrans Coventry, which was one of I the dark horse Derby candidates attracting! support in the future books, took a sound beat ing in the Wood Stakes and he may be safely eliminated from further consideration if | past performances mean anything. He has shown none of the abdity which he had been said to possess and his failure Saturday appears conclusive. The Preakness Stakes, which will be run Fri day, will be the real final for the Kentucky Derby. The Derby favorite, Quatrain, will not be among the starters in the Maryland Jockey Club classic, but practically al of the eastern candidates for the big Churchill Downs prize will face the starter in the Pimlico event. Whether the three-year-olds this season are really below the average, as has been surmised by the handicappers, they appear to be of a rather even quality. The Preakness will undoubtedly attract a large field and the winner may be accepted as Quatrains most formidable rival for Kentucky Derby honors. The candidates for the big Kentucky event which have been training in the West have, with the exception of Quatrain, hardly satisfied anyixidy outside of their own stables that they have much chance in the running. Lee 0. Cotner and Captain Hal both have their admirers, but the former has worked disappointingly when most was expected of him and the lattrr is being prepared for the race in such unconventional fashion that the experts are more or less at a loss to gauge his real quality. E. R. Bradleys Derby candidates this year are, with the exception oi Blue Warbler, a filly, apparently lacking in real state quality. The Master of Idle Hour is always feared, however, by other owners who are seeking a Derby victory. H. P. Whitneys Reminder is considered the strongest candidate from that stable despite that he ran far back in the Wood Stakes Saturday. His stable companion won and his performance, accordingly, may be discounted. This stable, as usual, will receive serious consideration in the Derby. The Greentree Stable possesses one candidate which appears to be really formidable. This is Chantey, which broke a track record in the first start of his career at Havre de Grace. Those who have seen him race are amazed at his speed and frankly accept him as a dangerous factor iu the Kentucky classic if he trains soundly. The East lost its strongest candidates no doubt when Master Charlie and Stimulus went wrong, but it is easily seen that there are enough formidable three-year olds remaining in the seaboard area to give Quatrain and the other Derby hopes in western training a real argument if they race to expectations May It,
