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Here and There on the Turf Spring Racing Is Here. Interest in Eowie. Pimlico Bcok Is Out. Whitneys Three-Year-Olds. « -4 The eagerly awaited opening of the spring season of racing is here. This afternoon the Southern Maryland Agricultural Association will open its Bowie gates for the eleven-day meeting that welcomes the thoroughbreds back for the 1928 campaign. It is just one more chapter in the lives of the horses and turfmen who have campaigned through the winter months, but it is a return of the sport to the vast majority. In the crowd that gathers at the Mary-laud course this afternoon, most of the patrons will be those who have had their last view of racing at the same course last November. These are the ones that are doubly eager for the new meetings. They have been looking forward to April 3 and counting the days ever since the dates for the new racing season were announced. There are a greater number of horses available for the new meetings than ever before in the history of Maryland racing, and the entries made for the initial day .at Bowie tell of that number. And they are fit horses. Those that have been raced through the winter have every reason to be fit, while the ones that were retired for the cold months have been 1 galloping for some time in a fashion to 1 suggest readiness. The coming together of those which have raced through the winter and those 1 that have rested, always offers an interesting problem at Bowie. This year, - more than ever before, there are a 1 greater number in each division, while ■ the meeting will also uncover various of : the new two-year-olds that have been treating something of a sensation in their preparation for the races. Altogether Bowie always has great importance " and it is greater this year than 1 ever before by reason of the greater number of horses that are on hand to 1 furnish the racing. While the Pimlico meeting of the ! Maryland Jockey Club is not to arrive until May 1, the book for the meeting has I been issued by M. L. Daiger, the clubs secretary. As usual, this book is a decidedly - attractive one and the arrangement - of the various stake races assures s a varied entertainment that will be up to the best traditions of the famous old 1 course. The meeting begins with the running C of the Dixie Handicap, a 5,000 added 1 race, at a mile and three-sixteenths, for r three-year-olds and over, while on Friday, - May 11, the 0,000 added Preakness 3 Stakes, over the same distance, for three-year-olds, is down for decsion. There a is ample provision made for the steeplechasers, - with cross-country races on i Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for r the eleven days of the meeting. The track rules are a part of the book, , and one of these that is of especial interest - reads: i i I . 1 I , | 1 1 1 - 1 ■ : " 1 1 ! I - - s 1 C 1 r - 3 a - i r , - i Entries of horses failing to conform to the standard of consistency established by the stewaids will be refused, without casting any reflection upon the integrity of anyone, unless the stewards consider that the circumstances warrant such an interpretation, in which case a special ruling, clearly indicating the fact, will be made. The wording of this regulation, it will be observed, at once takes in such horses that are inconsistent through no fault of their owners, trainers or jockeys, and a ruling against any one of such horses would, of course, cast no reflection on ; the stable itself. I Inconsistency, for any reason, should t not be tolerated on a race course and it is a wise provision to enact rules to ! stamp it out for the general good of the i sport. ■ i Another excellent track regulation bars the starting of any horse on the flat that is known to have bled since January I, 1928, until permission has first been obtained from a steward of the meeting. This rule is modified to enable any trainer, who can satisfactorily state that his horse has been cured of bleeding, to start the animal, which would otherwise be barred. Harry Payne Whitney will come to the races this year with at least a numerically strong band of three-year-olds. That fact was demonstrated when James Rowe named a dozen of them for the Kentucky Derby. Of these there are four with no public form, for they have not yet been to the races, while some of the others that have raced will have to move up a bit to be worthy representatives of the popular stable. Those that have never started are Fly-across, Gadalong, Limbo and Tantivy. Flyacross is a bay son of Whisk Broom II. and the Tracery mare Traverse, a parentage that should mean much for speed. Gadalong is an unsexed son of Chicle and Gladiola, a daughter of Cyl-gad. He is in the Fred Hopkins division at the old Benning course in Washington, where he has attracted attention in his galloping this spring. Limbo is also a gelding. He is also a Chicle, being from Paradise II., a daughter of Adam. Tantivy, the remaining maiden that has not started, is still another son of Chicle, and also a gelding, with the good Meddler mare Tanya for his dam. The others of the Whitney dozen in the Derby are Victorian, Groucher, Honker, Agitator, Bye *nd Bye, Hush Dear, The Tartar and Pollywog. Of these Hush Dear was in the Mose Goldblatt division last year and was raced extensively in Kentucky and also kept [n training and raced at New Orleans during the winter. There was nothing she accomplished that would make her appear as a worthy con- tender for the Churchill Downs feature. Bye and Bye, as well as The Tartar, did not come to hand until the fall of last year, and they were only raced in Mary- land. Bye and Bye won his first race, but was beaten in five other races at Pimlico and Bowie. The Tartar was only started twice, winning in a canter the first time out at Havre de Grace, and then being soundly beaten in the running of the Eastern Shore Handicap, which fell to Happy Time. Pollywog failed to escape from the maiden class in ten starts over the New York tracks, and his past performances have been anything but impressive. Victorian, Groucher, Honker and Agitator each showed a measure of good to fair class on occasions. Victorian was the winner of four races out of six starts, and was a close second to Brooms in the Hopeful Stakes and just as close a third to Anita Peabody and Reigh Count in the Futurity at Belmont Park. Groucher was started fifteen times and was the winner of four races, was twice second and three times third, while on one occasion he was left at the post. Honker was raced twelve times and won three races, one purse going to him through the disqualification of Reigh Count at Saratoga. Agitator was three times winner out of six starts, but he was well beaten in both the Hopeful Stakes and the Futurity at Belmont Park. Thus it would seem that of those with any public form Victorian is easily best, taking a line through both the Hopeful Stakes and the Futurity. But, unless there comes some development among the Whitney eligibles of which less is 1 known, the band promises to be more numerically strong than strong in racing ability.
