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s i Here and There 1 c on the Turf - i Jumping Eace Fees. Plea for an Increase. 1 Claiming Eace Eule Good One. J Stakes for Dorval. , j While there is no excuse for other than i strict honesty in all sorts of racing, it 5 must be admitted that probably the steeplechase jockeys are subjected to more temptation than those who confine their efforts to riding on the flat. One amendment that might help some would be a revision of the riding fees in steeplechases. An excellent change, and one that meets with the approval of at least , some of the turfmen who race their horses through the field, would be a fee of 00 for a winning mount and 0 for a losing mount. , 1 At the best, the steeplechase rider has his opportunities few and far between, and the nature of his employment command a better price than 0 for a winning . mount and 5 for a losing mount. About the New York courses this is not : much of a wage, when the few steeplechases . and the few horses that compete . are taken into consideration. "With more , steeplechasing and larger fields there would not be the same reason for raising the fees, but such a recompense would I assuredly bring better results. There ; would be a better winning incentive and I there would be fewer of the listless rides j that have marked some of the races of f this year. It is not meant that riders should be paid to be honest, but the fees should be e -such that it would awaken an ambition j that is sorely lacking among them at thfa g time. Many of the horses that are raced j through the field are far from being finished jumpers, and there is always the e chance that unless the rider confines s most of his efforts to keeping his mount on its feet, rather than in endeavoring to make him win, he is irT danger of a fall. This cautious ride has lost many a race and, with a better incentive for winning, rf much of this over-cautiousness would d disappear and better racing would result. Most of the turfmen who show .their r colors in the steeplechase field are men n of wealth who could well afford to pay y the increased riding fee, and it is safe to say that a majority of them would j welcome the change, if convinced that it it would bring about better racing. Ever since the adoption of the excellent rule of The Jockey Club governing g claiming races, there have been complaints j about its provisions, and efforts ts have been made to have it repealed. Right now there is another protest from certain r trainers who would have it amended 1j and made less drastic in its provisions. s i 1 c i 1 J , j i 5 , 1 . : . . , I ; I j f e j g j e s rf d r n y j it it g j ts r 1j One of the complaints made is that there should be no opportunity for any one to claim a starter. They would confine the claiming privilege to those who have starters in the race. In support of this, the cry is that too often horses are claimed out of races and shipped away to Canada, Kentucky, or elsewhere by the . claimant. This is considered a hardship by the New York owners and trainers, but it really is a weak sort of an argument to break down one of the essential safeguards against collusion in claiming t races. n When the claiming privilege is con- of fined to those who have starters, it is frequently possible for each man with a starter to enter into an agreement re- q garding the claiming, so that the pur- e: pose of the race is ruined. With such collusion it would be possible to bring back all the abuses of the old selling-race r rule that made the adoption of the n present rule imperative. Now, with the claiming open to all, it at once becomes n impossible for collusion that permits the t under-valuation of a horse. That is the p o of prime evil that had to be overcome in the racing of platers. It has been overcome by the New York rule, and that rule must r not be disturbed if the claiming races a are to remain races for platers that are jj entered for full value. f The arguments for the rule are un- j answerable, while the amendment to the rule would be an entering wedge for a i return to the old conditions that were a disgrace to racing. a It is not expected that the stewards of j The Jockey Club will be stampaded into making any changes in. the present excellent rule, but an effort would be made to have it amended which, as a matter of d fact, is another evidence that it is a good one. C t Dice, the swift-running son of Domin- 2 a ant and Frumpery, which added the Hud- a son Stakes to his victories in the Keene l Memorial Stakes and the Juvenile Stakes, and is unbeaten so far, has earned t 9,675 for Mrs. H. C. Phipps and Ogden Mills Wheatley Stable. His only other i engagement, during the Aqueduct meet-r ing, is in the Great American Stakes, which, with its ,000 added money, will be worth 2,850 to the winner, should J as many as ten starters be sent to the 1 post and that is a modest estimate. j It is unfortunate that Dice is not also i an eligible to the Tremont Stakes, also j a race with ,000 added, for, in his pres- ent condition, he has shown that he is of real championship timber. The manner ; in which he shouldered 127 pounds in the Hudson Stakes left no doubt of his high class, and it was just a carrying-on from his other brilliant performances. James Fitzsimmons seems to be par-t ticularly well supplied with good two-0 year-olds this year, and he has them in the best of condition. From the begin-e ning of the racing year the young racers he has sent to the post have shown great speed, and they have also shown an edu-t cation at the barrier that has been of great help, and which always will be a great help in two-year-old racing. There is still opportunity for good ones to ap-e pear, and each year many of the best are not shown until later many not until the Saratoga meeting but from the way Dice has been meeting all comers up to this time, Fitzsimmons has had nothing to give him serious concern. There has been new prosperity come to the Canadian racing this year, with the easing up of some of the taxes on the sport. Attendance has been larger than in recent years, and there is, generally, a greater interest taken in the turf. The meetings that have been completed thus far have been eminently successful, and there is a like promise for the meetings that are yet to come. One of these meetings is that of the Dorval Jockey Club at Montreal. This meeting is to be conducted from July 23 until July 30, and three of the stake races for the meeting are to close July 1G. These stakes are the Quebec Derby, at a mile and a sixteenth, to which ,000 is added; the Queens Hotel Handicap, at a like distance, with ,000 added ; and the Dorval Juvenile Stakes, for two-year-olds, at five and a half furlongs, with ,500 the added money. Each of these will undoubtedly attract many horses from the United States, as well as Canada, for many turfmen have found it profitable to cross into Canada for the racing this year.
