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Here and There on the Turf Three -Year-Old Classics. Preakness and Derby. Fleischmann Dispersal. Exterminators Old Age. The Preaknes8 to be run at Pimlico this afternoon i3 one of the three great three year-old classics of the American turf. Because cf its wealth of tradition and unbroken history the Kentucky Derby has attained a fame and importance hardly matched by either the Preakners or the Belmont Stakes. So far as general pubLc interest is concerned the big Churchill Downs classic has no equal in this country; but the breeder, the sportsman and the student of racing find still more attrae tion in the Belmont. The Preakness, when it became a wcight-for age race last season took a great step forward. As an allowance affair, it could never have a:-tained quite the place in the race scheme which it now holds. When the distance was increased for this years running from a mile and a furlong to a mile and three-sixteenths a still further advance was made. Both of these steps to improve the event were taken in the face of sharp opposition. Trainers and owners of certain eligibles sharply favored by the old allowance conditions predicted that the event would suffer a lose of popularity under weight for-age conditions. This failed to materialize. Then when the distance was increased for this yearg running, many trainers complained that it would be impossible to prepare horses for a race at such a distance so early in the season. But the field this year promises to be just as big and just as representative of the best in the division as at any time in the past. The Preakness, under its present conditions, is a much more important test of three year-old quality than it was before the changes were made. Light weight cannot be advanced as an explanation for the unexpected victory of any outsider. Heavy weight cannot be blamed for the defeat of a favorite. In other words, the contestants meet under conditions as nearly equal as it is possible to make them and the best horse should win. Whatever the outcome of the Pimlico classic this afternoon it is not bkely that the owners of the beaten horses will be discouraged by the result. They will recall that Zev, winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1923, was disgracefully beaten in the Preakness, won by Vigil. They will be inclined to assume that their respective horses can show a similar surprising movement in the course of the week that intervenes between the running of the two three year old fixtures and will send their colors to the post at Churchill Downs regardless of the outcome of the Pimlico event. Horse racing is too uncenain for any turf man to take the outcome of one race as eon elusive proof either of the quality or lack of quality of any particular thoroughbred. Only once in the history of the two races has the 6ame horse won the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby. This was in 1919. when Sir Barton scored in both. The Chesapeake Stakes at Havre de Grace has come to be regarded as a preliminary for the Preakneas. but strangely enough the Chesapeake winner has never finished in front in the Pimlico classic. The Blue Grass Stake? at Lexington is asmmed to hold a similar relationship to the Kentucky Derby, but the fame horse has never won those two races either. The announcement that all the flat racers owned by the estate of the late Julius Fleisch- mann are to be sold under the auspices of the Thoroughbred Sale Company at Belmont Park May 23, comes as something of a surprise. The horses wintered at Aiken, S. C, after arriving j from France in November of last year. They were brought to Belmont Park early last month by Thomas McCreery and put in training. The original plan was for trainer McCreery to race these horses, as well as the steeplechasers under lease from the estate during the current season, but fcr some reason this project has been altered and the decision reached to disperse the stable at public auction. This is another wonderful opportunity for owners to acquire excellent foreign blood for their racing stables and stud farms. The horses, all of which are two year olds except one, a three year old, were carefully selected for the late Cincinnati sportsman abroad last year, and they represent one of the finest lots of imported stock brought here in recent years. Trainer McCreery has arranged to show the horses to prospective purchasers at Belmont Paik at any time between now and the sale date. The French thoroughbred holdings of the late sportsman were sold yesterday in France, and except for the steeplechasers, which will be raced as planned by trainer McCreery under lease, all cf the horses owned by the estate will be disposed of when the May 23 sale is completed. The Nursery Stud sale of May 15 will offer a wonderful opportunity to breeders for the acquisition of remarkably successful breeding stock. The Fleischmann sale will offer a rare opportunity for the purchase of promising young race horses which should be valuable in the stud after their days cf activity in turf are over. With the demand for horses as-heavy as it is at present, excellent prices should be realized at both of these auctions. There is talk of bringing old Exterminator back to the races once more. It is difficult to understand how such a project as this could even be considered. The old fellow was raced too long as it was. When his wonderful legs began to show the first signs of going back on him he should have been retired from the race course. If, as has been said, the old fellow is not happy unless he is among the race horses at the track, he should certainly be allowed to spend his declining years in such surround ings, but the idea of placing those tired old legs under the strain of further attempts at racing should not be entertained by his owner or trainer. Exterminator proved himself during his long years of usefulness to be one of the greatest geldings that ever raced. He earned the right to spend his old age in ease and comfort. If he should come back to the races, he could never be more than a shell of the great racing machine that he once was. In retirement he will remain as long as he lives and for many years after an inspiring memory to those who have seen him race and a fine tradition to those who may come after. If the old gelding was a mere selling plater, the idea of bringing him back after he is obviously through would not be quite so repulsive. It might seem unfair to the horse which had done his best for various masters, but it would not be an offense against the unwritten ethics of the turf. But with a hero like Exterminator such an act would lend color I to the charges of commercialism so frequently hurled against racing nowadays.
