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i BIG BREEDERS GO TO SALE ! i * Leading Producers Plan Trip • West for Nursery Vendue. « Several Attempts Made to Huy Stallion Fair Play Before Big Auction, But Offers Are Refused. ♦ NEW YORK, X. Y., May 9.— Speculation i as to the price the champion stallion Fair Play will bring at the Nursery Stud dispersal sale May 15 and the identity of his ; prospective purchaser are live topics of discussion among turfmen and breeders throughout the country thes3 days. Some fanciers have tried to buy the horse privately. The latest inquiry came from E. F. McWhirter of Seattle recently. Mr. McWhirter and others have been told that none of the sixty-nine head in the sale will be disposed of privately, and that Fair Play will be sold immediately after luncheon to the highest bidder. Guesses as to the price he will bring vary considerably, experts placing his value at from 0,000 to 00,000. It is known that at least five prominent breeders are interested in the horse. As the day of the sale approaches, parties are being arranged to make the journey to Kentucky in private cars, and applications for seats at the side of the sales ring, which will be erected in the grove near the bungalow occupied by the late Major Belmont durinjr his visits to the farm, are coming along daily. Payne Whitney and his friends will occupy six seats. His brother, Harry-Payne Whitney, will have the five adjoining seats for himself and his friends. William Woodward, Marshall Field III., Robert la Gerry, Robert A. Fairbairn, Robert Clark and A. B. Hancock and their friends will occupy twenty or more chairs. W. J. Salmon has made application for a dozen chairs, and F. S. Von Stade, who will be accompanied by friends from Dayton, Ohio, has requested reservations for his party of eight. SINCLAIR TO KENTUCKY. Harry F. Sinclair is another fancier from New York greatly interested in the Xursery Stud sale, and he will make the trip to Kentucky in a private car, accompanied by Mrs. Sinclair and a number of friends. George If. Bull, secretary-treasurer of the Saratoga Association, and friends, including ex-comptroller James W. Fleming, of Troy, will come: : fron Louisville in their private car, arriving in Lexington on Wednesday night or Thursday morning for an inspection of the horses prior to the sale. Reservations also have been made for Richard T. Wilson, president of the Saratoga Association. Mr. Wilson will have a party of friends, as will also John Sanford. Other Xew York breeders and. fanciers for whom reservations will be made are Gifford A. Cochran, James Butler, William B. Miller, and James Cox Brady. Philadelphia will be strongly represented. Joseph E. Widener, for whose account the sale is being conducted is expected at Lexington today. He will have a number of guests on his private car and will spend most of his time prior to the sale at the Xursery. He will be on hand personally to meet those ! ! who care to inspect the stock. eGorge E. I Widener and friends will leave Mondav or Tuesday, as will also the Samuel D. Riddles and Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords. FROM WASHINGTON AND VIRGINIA. Washington and Virginia will send a strong delegation, including Samuel Ross, Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson, P. M. Walker, Ree,d Riley. Arthur Frost, W. S. Crunden, Kenneth M. Gilpin and Arthur Warthen. They will have a private car for the trip and have had seats reserved for them at the ringside. Mr. and Mrs. Billy Hitt, Raymond Belmont and others will come from Middleburg, while B. B. and Monfort Jones of the Audley Farm will make the trip from Berryville. Ral Parr, D. Stewart Gittings, Joseph F. Flanagan, Foxhall P. Keene and others of the hunting and racing set in Maryland will have seats set aside for them. The delegation from Chicago, headed by Robert M. Eastman, of Eastman Hill Stock Farm, will have their own car, and a section at the ringside. Fanciers are expected also from St. Louis, Kansas City and other points in the middle west. One thousand chairs have been obtained for the occasion, and it looks as if the number will have to be augmented. Mrs. Elizabeth Kane, in a letter received here yesterday, reports the stallions, mares and foals in perfect health and many visitors inspecting them daily.
