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Here and There on the Turf Club Steaks Future. Carlaris and the Derby. The Chicago Muddle. Pompeys Progress. Kven though Club Steak is a daughter of Stake and Gap there is hardly an excuse for her name, but it is a name that is almost sure to go high in the two year old races of 1926. Stake and Cap. the dam of Mr. Jones swift running filly. wa the first winner of th? Keene Memorial Stakes at Belmont Park in 1913 when she took the measure of Gainer. She raced for Thomas Fortune Ryans Oak Ridge Stable and the Keene Memorial Stakes victory was her most notable achievement. Club Steak, this daughter of hers to the mating of Meridian, is far and away the best two year old of either sex that has been brought to the races this year. Probably most of the two year olds that Club Steak beat in the Aberdeen Stakes on Saturday will be racing in claiming races before long. Undoubtedly the filly has not yet met anything like the contention she will find within another month of racing, but on her two races she must be considered at least as a dangerous possibility among the best. She won her races with such ease that it is at once suggested that she is capable of much better things. And while discussing Club Steak it is inter esting to note that Meridian bids fair to have his best year as a sire. True, he ha« had only limited opportunities since going into the stud, but the showing of his progeny this year has been excellent. Besides Club Steak he has sent to the races for 1926 Noon. Matilda B.. lena Rinehart. Beatrice Noyes, Superline, Sphere and some others. These have all shown speed enough to suggest that they will at least be useful and it gives Meridian new importance as a stock horse. Now that Carlaris has safely completed his : long trip from Tijuana and is comfortably housed at Douglas Park in Louisville, there comes more interest in the doings of the can didates for the Kentucky Derby. There is always a chance for accident in such a long journey and the fact that the colt arrived in excellent condition is cause for con graduation. He is on hand far enough before the running of the big race, on May 15, to have every opportunity to be entirely ready for its running and he should be able to confirm his brilliant victory in the Coffroth Handicap Of course, Carlaris will be meeting an altogether «lifferent band that afternoon at ChurchUl Downs, but on paper it would seem that he has a distinct advantage over many of them in the matter of condition. Another recent Kentucky Derby arrival from Tijuana and one that must be accorded consideration is Roycrofter, which finished second to Carlaris in the swiftly run mile and a quarter of the Coffroth Handicap. This colt is greatly improved and if it should so happen that the Derby has to be run over a track that is heavy and muddy, his chances will be »yreatly enhanced. In the meantime candidates that accom plished infinitely more than either of these in the racing of last year are steadily coming along in their Kentucky Derby preparation until the 1926 renewal promises to furnish one of the greatest contests in the long history of the big race. It is little short of calamitous that there still seems to be considerable friction among th racing associations of Chicago. That is evidenced by the announcements and the contra dictions of announcements anent Hawthorne and the plans for a meeting at the old Cicero track. The Illinois Jockey Club is out with a list of stakes for its meeting at the new course which is being constructed at Homewood and. according to Thomas Bourke. his club is not in perfect accord with Col. M. J. Winn and his associates who are building Lincoln Fields in Will County. Both the Hawthorne track and the Home wood course are in Cook County and it has been generally understood that no attempt would be made to conduct racing under the certificate plan." which so closely resembles mutuels. in that county. But Mr. Bourke is authority for the statement that such will be the system of wagering at the new course. It is also known that the Illinois Jockey-Club has endeavored to have the Hawthorne track returned to it for the conduct of the meeting this year and that is another angle to the general mix-up in turf affairs. In the meantime the failure of the different associa tions to come together in some sort of har monious agreement threatens to wTeck the whole racing season just when the turf future for Ch ic ago seemed so bright. It is to be remembered that the Illinois Jockey Club made a failure of its racing at Hawthorne and the return of the track is sought at this time to wipe out the memory of that failure; that is the reason that has been given by Mr. Bourke. Whether or not his club is to obtain control again remains to be seen, but just now the chance does not appear to be particularly bright. Then the second meeting with Joseph A. Murphy as its manager was not a financial success and there was a sale of the track option to Colonel Winn and his associates. Joseph A. Murphy still sjieaks with authority about the future of Hawthorne and he may do so with good reason, but there is no denying that the prospects of racing near Chicago are still in much of a muddle that can do the sport no good. Every time that W. R. Coes Pompey appears on the track there is less reason to expect that he will not be ready for his engage ment in the Kentucky Derby. His seven eighths on Monday morning at Belmont Park in 1 :28 was a workout that should prove be yond all question that he will be ready by May 15 for the Kentucky I Whys mile and a quar ter. The progress of the son of Sun Briar and Cleopatra has been excellent and he need only continue to train as promisingly as he has in the past to be on hand for the running of the big race.
