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Here and There on the Turf 3 4 Benning Juvenile Ban. Carlaris and the Derby. Whitney Two-Year-Olds. Horse Quarantine. By a ruling of the Bowie stewards, two-year -ods that have been trained at the old Ben- ning track in Washington will not be permitted to sart until they have been schooled at the barrier at Bowie. That is an excellent ruling and one that should make for better : two year-old racing at the Maryland track, but it seems to be a bit unfair that two of the 1 wo year-olds from Benning that were entered efore the rule was passed were ruled out as ineligible. When the entries were made and accepted there was no bar against the Benning two-year olds and it would have only been fair to permit ihem to go to the post. It is right and proper that two-year -olds should have proper schooling before being sent to the races and it is well within the powers of the stewards, or the starter himself, to make any regulation that will bring about this result, but when entries are accepted in any race a later ruling should not bar those entries. Every springtime there are two-year-olds that are sent to the races so utterly ignorant of the starting barrier that they are under a serious handicap. Trainers, and many of them with long experience, are woefully negligent in the education of their young thoroughbreds I and many a race that should have been won is lost by reason of this ignorance. On the other hand, there are trainers who, by reason of the education of their youngsters, win races with inferior horses. It is not so much of an art to teach two-year olds how 1o behave at the barrier. A great majority of i them, with proper schooling, will readily learn to rush away from the barrier at racing speed and it is a constant source of surprise why i there should be so many in the spring that lose • races by reason of being barrier ignorant. With two-year-old races over such trilling ; distances that the start frequently decides the finish it would seem that trainers would pay • more attention to that part of their education , than almost anything else. Of course, it is natural that Carlaris should 1 still be the most talked of eligible to the Kentucky Derby. The English colt, by his vie tories in the Tijuana Derby and the Coffroth l Handicap, the latter over older horses, proved j himself a real sensation and it will take better than has been shown by any other eligible to weaken his position in this early consideration of the chances of the various candidates. But within a short time there will come training reports that may bring about some changes. It will not be long before reports will be coming from the various training grounds that will to some extent discount the public showing of the Anderson colt. At every one of the training grounds where Derby eligibles arc in preparation their trials are being stretched out until it is probable within a short time there will be tales of fast work over routes that show ability to race the mile and a quarter of the Derby. It is admitted that the backward spring, following a winter of almost unprecedented severity, has been a serious handicap in the preparation of horses for a May race, but there has come a break in the weather. Most of the best eligibles to the big race came out of winter retirement enjoying robust health and, with no further setbacks in training, there should be no lack of he best to try for the rich race. Taking a line through the two-year-olds from the Harry Payne Whitney stable that have been shown at the Bowie meeting, it would appear that the light blue and brown cap is going to come into its own in this division this year. It is not the custom of James Rowe to send his best to the post at the Bowie meet ing. But Fred Hopkins has met with wonderful success thus far, and as a matter of fact he should not have lost a race. For the first race of the meeting Hopkins saddled two eons of Pennant, and Miniator was the winner. He did not have a starter on Friday, but on Saturday he sent out another pair in Capricorn and Florian, both sons of Dis Done, and they finished first and second in the order named. Monday he saddled two fillies, Witchery, by Peter Pan, and Pyrex, ? daughter of Whisk Broom II. They were beaten, but Witchery raced third and she plainly demonstrated that she was the best in the race and it was only misfortune in its run ning that placed her third instead of first at the end. It is also to be commended that Hopkins has his band of two-year olds well schooled at the barrier and this has been a material aid to them in their successes. It is not expected that Rowe will show better ones until the Havre de Grace meeting opens and, if they are better than those that Hapkins has already brought to the races, it is safe to predict that the stable will cut a truly important figure in the races for two year olds of the year. There has been much to do about a quarantine against the horses in Florida and it would seem that it is something of a tempest in a teapot. There has been no evidence brought forward of thoroughbreds being effected with cattle ticks and reading between the lines it appears that the quarantine has been arranged without any real rea?on. It is just a bit remarkable that the Georgia state veterinarian is reported to have given, as his opinion, that conditions are not favorable at Orlando and it is intimated that the horses now racing at that Florida track will have to be dipped at Jacksonville before it is permitted to ship them through Georgia. But the veterinarian has said that the Orlando people did not offer to guarantee his expense money for the making of an examination of the horses. This coming right before his expressed opinion that the conditions are not favorable suggests that, possibly, the failure to advance or guarantee this expense money may have had something to do with the report. The horses that raced at Tampa were accorded a clean bill of health, but of course Tampa paid the expenses. Orlando Bhould have done so, and may do so, but it all appears to be rather far-fetched. It is looking pretty far ahead when it is threatened that there will be no quarantine concessions to the horsemen next year and undoubtedly long before that time there will be no tick infection in Florida. And all the time it must be remembered that there has been no report of any thoroughbred | being effected with the pest.
