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Here and There on the Turf Valorous and Chance Shot East Did Well Saturday Dice Proving His Worth Sickness Is Showing When Harry Payne Whitneys Valorous ran such a good race in the Select Han ¬ dicap at a mile and an eighth at Belmont Park on Saturday he qualified amply for the Belmont Stakes the big prize for which he is being pointed by James Howe It was his first appearance under colors this year as it was the first ap ¬ pearance of his stablemate Macaw Both made good handsomely handsomelyValorous Valorous was under scale weight and he gave a pound to Macaw on the scale while Feu Follet was in receipt of nine Sanford of eighteen and Forever and Ever twentyseven pounds That was plenty of weight to give away over such a distance when it is remembered that the son of Pennant Courage was start ¬ ing for the first time this year It not only told of his racing ability but it told of the skill of James Rowe in bringing him to the races so thoroughly fit for a first race raceAlmost Almost anyone is capable of training a horse to win a short distance but to have it ready for a mile and an eighth and under such weight means real skill skillOutside Outside of Macaw which gave Valor ¬ ous such a close race it must be admitted that the field was hardly a topnotch one though Sanford has shown good form on occasions and he is always a dangerous horse when in receipt of the weight that Valorous conceded on Saturday SaturdayIt It is doubly disappointing now that Valorous did not have an opportunity to race against Joseph E Wideners Chance Shot in the running of the Withers Stakes He would surely have given the son of Fair Play a stiffer argument than was offered by Sweepster and he cer ¬ tainly is a foeman worthy of the Widener champion championThere There are many with everything being equal who would prefer a Fair Play to a Pennant in racing the mile and a half of the Belmont Stakes but Valorous is a rather remarkable son of Pennant and he is a particularly robust and powerful colt His mile and an eighth indicated that he is ready for the mile and a half to be run on June 11 and it is admitted by the staunch est admirers of Mr Wid ¬ eners colt that Valorous is the one that has to be beaten The meeting of the famous old On ¬ tario Jockey Club came to a conclusion at the Woodbine Park course in Toronto while the meeting of the Fairmount Jockey Club at the Collinsville course near St Louis had its opening Each was a brilliant day of racing while the racing at both Belmont Park and Church ¬ ill Downs gave further testimony of the tremendous popularity of the turf with the holidaymaker holidaymakerThe The New York horses or horses from the East did exceedingly well at each of the racing grounds when in addi ¬ tion to winning the various features at Belmont Park there came notable suc ¬ cesses at Woodbine Park and Fairmount Park Walter J Salmons Display win ¬ ner of the Preakness Stakes of last year took the Toronto Cup Handicap worth 12830 to the New York turfman while Max Hirsch sent from Bernard M Baruchs Kershaw Stable Autumn Bells across the line to take the Aintree Steeplechase worth 4640 to the winner Then at Collinsville Edward B McLeans Prince of Wales scored a victory for the East when he won the Collinsville Han ¬ dicap which added just 6070 to his winning record At Churchill Downs twoyearolds that had their first racing lessons at Miami last winter were much in the picture when Typhoon from Payne Wests Kenton Farm stable was a winner with Edward B McLeans Toro racing to an easy second This Dice the son of Dominant Frumpery is going right along in a fashion that might possibly keep him a championship contender right to the end of the chapter He has won all three of his races and when it is remembered that two of these were the Keene Memorial Stakes and the Juvenile Stakes which he took down at Belmont Park Saturday What is remarkable about the good colt is that he seems to be con ¬ stantly improving improvingIn In the Keene Memorial Stakes he bare ¬ ly beat Nassak and Groucher under equal weights That victory imposed a penalty until Saturday he was carrying three pounds over the scale 125 pounds and he beat Groucher again though the Whitney colt had a pull of eight pounds in the weights Nassak unfortunately was not a starter for the reason that he developed a cough in the early morning and Hildreth was forced to forego the race raceBut But Dice carried his weight like a real champion and he has to be rated the best of those that have raced up to this time purely on his public performances and they are all that count countIn In his two stake victories alone Dice has taken 23275 while his other victory was in an overnight purse for maidens which brings his total to 23975 23975This This is a truly good start for any two yearold before the end of May but of course Dice has been storing up trouble in the way of penalties Right at the beginning of his career his penalties will prove a tremendous handicap when all of the best ones are racing as they will be next August AugustIt It is remembered that Sweep by win ¬ ning the great American Stakes at Aque ¬ duct in 1924 incurred a penalty that cost him many a rich race in the following racing year He was not able to give away the weight required of him by that early victory victoryDice Dice has shown that he is capable of taking up his weight by shouldering the Keene Memorial Stakes penalty and win ¬ ning the Juvenile Stakes The only other colt to win both of these races was Tryster which won the Juvenile Stakes under 115 pounds and followed it up with a victory in the Keene Memorial Stakes under 128 pounds That was in 1920 when the Juvenile Stakes was run be ¬ fore the Keene Memorial Stakes It is truly unfortunate that an epidemic of sickness should have stricken the Ran cocas Stable at this time when there are so many important races almost at hand It was sickness that prevented Nassak from starting in the Juvenile Stakes and the other twoyearold stars Ariel and Mowlee are also on the sick list Pos ¬ sibly there has been a check on the spread of influenza but too aften it is a disease that leaves its mark after the patient has been apparently perfectly cured curedThere There had been general health of horses this spring but sickness put in its appearance and the Hildreth string is by no means the only one that is afflicted afflictedThere There is some surprise in the an ¬ nouncement that the entire racing string of J J Timmerman is to go under the hammer in the Belmont Park paddock next Saturday This stable has met with a full measure of success from a begin ¬ ning at the United Hunts meeting and William Knapp had many of them fit and ready for the first asking while there are others that have been highly tried but have not yet been shown under rac ¬ ing colors
