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Turf Comment and Observations BY CAPTAIN KETTLE | , j . | i , . , . • , . NKW YORK, N*. Y., April 9.— When Dan i Scott died, his opportunity to go into the records as a breeder of a posthumos Futurity winner died with him. Therein lies a fresh lesson for those breed- • ers who discount the probability of death and i neglect to take the slight step necessary to insure the eligibility of their produce. | He had only to assign an infinitesminal • interest in his animals to a relative, a friend. ! or a soda fountain clerk, and register the partnership with the jockey club. Then, when he died, his entries would have stood as valid as ever. As it is, they die with him and are voided. Scott may not have had a single colt or filly worth training for a Futurity. But he registered fourteen nominations, and among them he had at least one great potentiality from the mating of Tryster with the Watercress mare, Water K. Those who remember the race for the Kentucky Derby, last year by Son of John — ■ which was also a son of Water K. — would pay a tidy sum for a Tryster colt from such a mare. But they would pay more if the possibility of winning a Futurity were included in the bargain. Scott was originally of the small-farm typo of Kentuckian who saw the growing values! j of thoroughbred stock and virtually lifted! I j himself, 1 am told, by his own boot-straps. Probably, like most other breeders except | ! the occasional misanthrope who wants all! his glory to die with him, he had always in-; tended to file one of those partnerships, but | just never got around to it. So sharp a busi-. ; ness man as he was would not purposely i permit an avoidable depreciation in his prop-1 erty, even after he was gone. Tnder his lazy Southern exterior, he was pretty much of a Yankee. Until r first saw Scott, I had always thought that the black mustached man with the black eyes who used to play opposite Broncho Billy Anderson in the films of old days was the most perfect sheriff I had ever seen. But Scott went him one better. Scott didnt play the part ; he was the part. And, as a matter of fact, lie did serve as sheriff of Fayette County for some years, the most picturesque that had ever held that office. And. it is said, one of the handiest with a gun. One of the points to which Man o Wars enthusiastic admirers point is the manner . in which he stamps his children with his own chestnut color. He found a lady with a character of her own. however, when Senator Pat Joyce sent his proud bay mare to court and the son j | child of Man o War and Pen Bose is a bay. j ! A case, shall we say. of the Pen mightier • ! than the Sword. j Having seen his formidable racing string I transferred from his Maryland farm to Havre de Irace barns. Com. J. K. L. Boss came over to New York to renew acquaintances yesterday. The Canadian sportsman was most optimistic about his outlook for racing this year, and strengthened our local hopes of seeing his colors on the New York turf with some hopeful cxpn ssions of his own about his ehances in the big stakes here. The victory of the American-owned gelding, .lack Horner, in the Liverpool Grand National was especially pleasing to Commander Boss — so pleasing, in fact, that he is plannim; a dinner on next Saturday evening to celebrate the achievement. This is rather good sportsmanship from a man whom, despite his long association on the American tuif, we sill look upon as a Canadian and a sub- ject of Britain. Commander Boss pleasure over the event is enhanced by the fact that he was the lucky holder of Inch Horner in the very M/: lile pool on the Grand National, made i • i | • ! j I j | ! | ; i up at the Montreal Club, in Montreal. The dinner will be held in that club. A. K. Macombers sensational Cambridgeshire winner, Masked Marvel, started another season successfully as winner of the Prix Mars on Faster Monday at Longchamp. where the new racing season began with considerable success to American owners all around. Another winner from the Macomber stable was the three-year-old War Mist, a colt possibly to be heard from in the classics this year. He is a son of War Cloud and Brum-meli, and his good showing accentuates the loss to the breed suffered by the death of War Cloud in Kentucky in 1923, when only eight years old. The last crop of two-year-olds from the loins of War Cloud come to the turf this year. They were warmly coveted at the last yearling auctions, his eight representatives drawing an average well over ,000, and two of them going to the ,000 mark. Our expatriated Capt. Jefferson Davis Colin has returned his once heralded "wonder horse," Ptolemy, to the races, and doubtless found him just where he desired him, when the animal finished second to Nid dOr in the Prix Sablons, with Balph Strassburgers Asteroide coming up third, on the same Raster Monday card at Longchamp. Neither Captain Oohn nor his trainer. Bob Denman, were satisfied with or able to ex-I plain the dismal showing of Ptolemy at Ep-I som last year, and another Knglish invasion with the horse is in prospect, to restore his reputation. He has an agreeable weight in the New-I bury Spring Cup, which would have been increased with a penalty had he won at Longchamp on Monday. As it was, he showed smart form and still saved his penalty, and so it will be interesting to watch the results from Newbury. . «.
