view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Lincoln Fields Stakes. Great Racing Assured. Bradleys Preakness Hope. Increase at Havre de Grace. I 4 Announcement that has been made of : the stake program for the Lincoln Fields meeting, as was expected, assures Chicago racing of the first quality. The an-nouncement of the purses, recently made, is right along the liberal lines that have been the rule of Col. Matt Winn and his associates and there is variety enough in the schedule to make the program a thoroughly satisfactory one to the horsemen themselves. The big feature of the meeting necessarily is the Lincoln Handicap, the mile and a quarter test, for three-year-olds and upwards. It has an added money value of 5,000. This is an increase of 5,000 over the value of the same race last year and it brings the feature to a value that is certain to attract the best horses from every section. There is a new stake for the 1927 meeting in the La Salle Handicap, at a mile and three-sixteenths, to which 0,000 is added. The Lincoln Handicap is to be decided July 9, while the date chosen for the running of the La Salle Handicap is August 13. Thus it affords a second test, and an excellent one, for the handicap division. Besides these two specials there are five other stakes of ,000 added each, and they are varied enough to afford opportunity to the various divisions. It is noticeable that there is no special exclusively for three-year-olds, but they have every opportunity in the races that have been decided upon for three-year-olds and upward. Then, the fact that the Lincoln Fields meeting is to be conducted from July 2 to August 13 means that the season is one when the best three-year-olds are well able to take a place among the older horses in handicaps. It has also been decided that the overnight purses for the meeting will have a value ranging from ,200 to ,000 and such inducements will be decidedly alluring to those who may not have horses of stake quality. These various stakes are to be closed June 8 and assurances already received make certain each offering will receive a liberal response from the turfmen. It has always been contended that Chicago would welcome worthy racing, and bountifully support such racing. That is what is being furnished and never was there greater promise for a successful season. Edward R. Bradley, master of the Idle Hour Stock Farm, is going to make an effort to carry the Preakness Stakes prize back to Kentucky this year. This 0,000 race of the Maryland Jockey Club, which is to be decided at old Pimlico next Monday, has been very much of an eastern affair, so far as the winners have been concerned, but Mr. Bradley will try to carry it off with Bewithus, a son of Black Toney, that qualified at Lexington, Monday. Shannon is to take this fellow to Baltimore for the running of the Preakness Stakes and Mr. Bradley has promised that he will be on hand for the racing. But the Kentucky Derby, of course, is : i the really big goal for the Bradley colors and the Kentuckian, a keen judge himself, has high hopes that Buddy Bauer will carry his colors to victory and that Boo, winner of the Louisiana Derby, might make it another case of first and second for the stable. The white silks with green trimmings have two such runnings to their credit already, when in 1921 Behave Yourself was first and Black Servant second, while last year, when Bubbling Over was winner, he was being chased home by his stablemate Bagenbaggage. This is indeed an enviable record for a turfman and this year Mr. Bradley, always optimistic, is particularly sweet on his chances for victory. Taking a line through the juvenile racing of Buddy Bauer and Boo, there was nothing accomplished that would make their chances appear particularly bright in the Kentucky classic, but both have improved greatly this spring and Boo, by winning the Louisiana Derby and his training since that time, has earned the right to be started, while Mr. Bradley makes no secret of the fact that he prefers the chance of Buddy Bauer. With the closing of the season of the Harford Association meeting at Havre de Grace, there has come an announcement of material stake value increase for the fall racing of the same association. This promises an added money value of 0,000 to three of the big fall fixtures. These are the Eastern Shore Handicap, at three-quarter mile, for two-year-olds; the Potomac, a mile and a sixteenth handicap, for three-year-olds, and the Havre de Grace Handicap, at a mile and an eighth, which is for three-year-olds and upward. And it is fitting that these handicaps should be increased in value when the class of the horses that have been attracted is taken into consideration. These races are run at a season when there are always many of the good ones fit and ready and at a time when frequently there is still an element of doubt regarding the real champion. That gives them a double appeal. An idea of the horses that are attracted is had when the Eastern Shore Handicap of last fall was won by Osmand, the present favorite for the Kentucky Derby, while other winners have been Canter, Singlefoot, Hourless, Billy Kelly, Mor-vich unbeaten as a two-year-old, and Careful. Then the Potomac Handicap counts among its winners Sir Barton, Man o War, Lucky Hour, Tryster and Chance Play. The Havre de Grace Handicap was won last year by Crusader and in its list of victors are found such names as Bunting, The Porter, Omar Khayyam, Roamer, The Finn, Captain Alcock and Cudgel. With the increase in the value of each of these races it is natural to expect that the great sporting importance of the test will be fully sustained. The Harford Association is to be commended on its generosity and it is a move that still further adds to the importance of the Maryland racing. The house of representatives of the Illinois Legislature has put its stamp of approval on the bill for "An act to provide for regulate and license horse racing in the State of Illinois." It was no uncertain gesture of favor, the bill passing by the emphatic vote of 85 to 55. The bill now goes over to the Senate for such action as that august body may elect to take. If approved there it will go to the Governor for approval or rejection, as the case may be. The friends of racing in Illinois will await these further steps of progress with anxious impatience.
