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Here and There on the Turf Opening of Aurora. More Man o War Fame. Analyzing the Oaks. On Turf Expansion. The manner in which the races filled for the first day cf racing at the Aurora cours?, near Chicago, leaves no doubt of the number of horses on hand and ready to race. All seven of the races attracted liberal entries and there is a becomid; percentage of fairly good class horses in so:i;e of the races. With the constantly growing circuits of race courses, it would be natural that some of them would suffer for lick of material, but the breed ing seems o more than keep pace with the racing and thus far there has been no complaint of a shortage of horses. Just a bit of greatness came to Man o War as a sire with the racing at Belmont Park Wednesday when Walter M. Jeffords Florence Nightingale, the appropriately named daughter of the wonder horse and The Nurse, was an easy winner of the American Oaks. This name, the Coaching Club American Oaks, is a bit cumbersome and, with due respect to the Coaching Club, it would be well to know the race by this shorter and more euphonious name. And that was not the only success for a Man o War at Belmont Park Wednesday. Crusa der, a son of Man o Mar and Star Fancy, by Star Shoot, took the closing race of the day for Samuel D. Riddle, his breeder, and another Man o War, Mars, was second in the same race. The success of the progeny of Man o War this year has been remarkable and the manner in which his crop is developing as three year olds make his prominence as a stock horse immediate. With American Flag winner of the Bayside Handicap and the Withers Stakes and Florence Nightingale winner of the Coach ing Club American Oaks, he has two remark able three year olds. Besides Crusader, other two year-eld winners he has sent to the post are Mars, Friars Carse, winner of the Fashion Stakes, and Volunteer, a winner at th? Jamaica meeting. Last year Man o War proved himself as a stock horse with the many good two-year-olds he sent to the races, but what is of much more" importar.ee they give promise of training on to even better things this year. As for the later crop, it has been remarkable, and there are still good ones to be heard from. It must be remembered that Man o War is now only eight years of age, and he has only sent two crops to the races. This makes his record a doubly remarkable one and a horse of his age may, in the ordinary course of events, be expected to improve for several years to come. Samuel D. Riddle broke all records for bar gain hunting when he only paid ,000 for the son of Fair Play and Mahubah as a yearling Man o War stands almost alone as a champion of the turf that bids fair to become a champion stock horse. Seldom indeed do th« best race horses make the best sires, but Men o War has been an exception ever sinco the day he was foaled. What is doubly gratifying in the progeny of this great horse is that he begets stamina as well as speed. That has been pretty con clusively shown by the performances of both American Flag and Florence Nightingale. When the racing season is gone there will be those that i ,un out the fact that it was a boil year for three year-olds and that Man o War did not have to be a champion stock hors: to lead the sires, in the event that he reaches that high place, but at th-s time it appears that both American Flag and Florence Nightingale are of a class to make good in any year. The Oaks performance of Florence Nightingale, even though she did not have a great deal of opposition, was a sterling one when it is analyied. To race the mile and three eighths in 2;17%, even though it was three seconds Flower than the track record for the distance, was a high class performance, and it must be remembered that she made all the pace, under restraint, and was the winner by a full five lengths. She ran her first quarter in :234,£, her half in -i7, three quarters in 1:13, mile in 1 :38i, one and a quarter in 2.04.*;, and the distance in 2:17and. This shows a wonderfully even pace and it wdl also ahow Ui-t this daughter of Man o War ran her final eighth in : 1 3 and under restraint. That would not show that sie was .iring to any appreciabU extent. Bob Smith is to be congratulated on the training of Florence Nightingale for her Oaks victory, but ho had a good filly to "work on" and she will surely bring more fame to Man o War as a sire. Some idea is had of the turf expansion with racing at Belmont Park in New York, latonia , in Kentucky, Aurora in Illinois, Ikooklyn | Park and Voungstown in Ohio, Connaught Park and Thomcliffe in Canada, and another meeting in far away Omaha, Nebraska. Eight race courses conducting racing simultaneously i and each one of them bountifully supplied I with thoroughbreds. It is well that the turf J should expand when the racing is conducted along reputable lines, but it does not do to crowd meetings on top of one another in the same localities, as has been the case in Ohio. Thus far the success of racing in that state has not suffered by reason of the number of race courses, but it is a dangerous procedure to have as much racing as has been scheduled for the present year, even though there be horses enough to supply the demand. What is to be desired more than anything e!sa for the health of the turf is to have racing in many different localities. Racing, when it is properly conducted, can bring no offense and it would be well if the sport should be had in every state in the union, rather than have two or three states try to take care of aQ the racing.
