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Here and There on the Turf Opening of Havre de Grace. Past Performance Value. Raising the Weights. Scale is Juggled. 9 9 Racing has moved over to the Havre de Grace course of the Harford Association in Maryland, and the smaller circuit has begun at Beulah Park, near Columbus, Ohio. In Maryland the Bowie meeting brought in the new racing season brilliantly despite the bad weather that prevailed and it is probable that Havre de Grace will carry on with a still greater success. The Bowie meeting was a brilliant one by reason of the great crowds that braved the most inclement weather to see the thoroughbreds perform. The conditions were such that the best of them there were not sent to the post, but there was no letting down in patronage and it was a meeting that told eloquently of the popularity of the turf. Havre de Grace draws its patronage from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, Wilmington and various other large centers and, accordingly, it is rather more advantageously situated than the Southern Maryland Association course, but, with all the large cities to draw from, it means a long train ride or a long motor trip to the course. The special trains have always carried great crowds from each of the cities, while the motor roads are in fine condition, with various routes to the grounds, so that this mode of transportation has become more popular each year. And Havre de Grace has a stake list this spring that has attracted the nominations of some of the best horses of last year and from the most prominent men on the turf. They are not complimentary nominations, for many of them have been on the grounds for some time making ready for this opening, and promises have never been better at the beginning of any meeting at the course on the banks of the Susquehanna. The past performances of the various candidates for the Kentucky Derby are of real value to the student of thoroughbred form. The pub Iication of the nominations to the Preakness Stakes of the Maryland Jockey Club which is to be decided at Pimlico on May 9, while the Kentucky Derby is to be run May 14, gives the best performances a double value. While the Preakness Stakes with its late closing, did not attract the number of nominations that were received to the Kentucky Derby, virtually all of the Preakness ehgibles were named in the Derby and their past performances have appeared in either the Thursday or Friday issues of Daily Racing Form. No matter how retentive the memory of the turf student, there is nothing like a sheet of past performances to bring back the running of any particular race. He may have seen all the races that are shown in the performances, but no memory, no matter how well trained, will equal the actual record. With both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, by reason of their coming so early in the racing season the past perform ances are of special valut . Much is written of how the various candidates are progressing in their preparation for the great races, but there always must be a study of the year before in order that each candidate can be properly classed. There always will be brilliant work horses, but that counts for little unless it is backed up by performance with good ones. A cheap horn in relation to good class horses will always remain a cheap horse. Good or high- class is something that cannot be trained into the thoroughbred. It must be inherent, and an intelligent study of past performances will give the student a chance to determine the class of a horse, even though he never saw it race. It is interesting to study the condition book of the Metropolitan Jockey Club, with regard to the general raising of the weights for the coming meeting that is to open April 25. It has always been contended in this column that the existing scale of weights had no bearing on the fact that the weights were too low in most races. There have been many demands that the scale of weights be raised, in order that jockeys of increasing weight be afforded an opportunity to ride. It was pointed out in this column that the raising of the scale would have absolutely nothing to do with the weights that were carried in races, for any racing secretary is at liberty to so juggle the conditions, that no matter how high the scale, he may make the weights actually to be carried just what he pleases. This is done by starting the weights in claiming or condition races below the scale. Then he is just as much at liberty to start it above the scale and he is also able at his own desire to fix special weights that may differ materially from the scale in relation to the age divisions. For instance, in April at three-quarters, the three-year-old, on the scale, receives fourteen pounds from a four-year-old; at a mile he receives nineteen pounds and at a mile and a quarter seventeen pounds. In May over the same three distances the three-year-old receives eleven pounds at three-quarters; fifteen pounds at a mile and fifteen pounds at a mile and a quarter. Now in the framing of the cards for the racing at Jamaica in which the weights are raised all along the line in the overnight races, there is not the same difference between the three year-olds and the four-year-olds as is found in the scale. In some of the races the four -year-old is required to take up ten pounds more than the three-year-old, but in many of them the difference is only eight pounds and it drops all the way down to a difference of only five pounds. That shows after all that the scale of weights is in no sense an arbitrary rule, except in races at weight-forage. And there are reasons for this juggling of the weights. Early in the year, among the platers, there are few of the older horses capable of giving away nineteen pounds to a three-year-old in racing over a mile distance. But at the same time the older horse would be better able to give away the weight if the top is fixed at 118 pounds instead of 128 pounds. Under the 118 top weight, the three-year-old would be in under 99 pounds, whereas with the older horse carrying 128 pounds, the three- year-old would take up 109 pounds. This raising of the weights will be more or less of an experiment and it is not expected that it will meet with the universal approval of the trainers. There were some at Bowie who gave violent exception to the regulation that fixed 100 pounds as the minimum weight in all races, and the complaint came principally from those with ordinary plater three-year-olds. Then there wiH be others who will object more strenuously to the raising of the weights on the older horses. Unfortunately the light weights have prevailed for so long a time that many of the platers, of a greater age than three years, are utterly unable to show to advantage under the new weights. Then again there are some trainers who have the light apprentice lads and they make the objection that they dont want to pick up a lot of lead to make the new weights. These are some of the objections, but in the main they are selfish ones and altogether the change is one that should make for better racing. It may take some time to adapt the racing to the new order of things, but it is to be hoped that the good example at Jamaica will be followed by Belmont Park, Aqueduct, Empire City and Saratoga. It promises to be something of a task to put the raising of the weights over successfully at the start, but there are so many obvious advantages in the change that the racing secretaries should be accorded every support in the case. There is something much bigger and better than the mere chance for affording the heavier jockeys of experience a chance to ride — as has been set forth by some as the best reason for the change. It gives the horse more of a real test and if racing is to improve the breed of horses, anything that improves the racing is to be commended.
