view raw text
i ® — « i Here and There I on the Turf I Marylands Big Opening. Importance of Bowie. On Starting Gates. Bob Smiths Success. §, — — % Much has been said of the way that the Southern Maryland Agricultural Association has brought its Bowie track to 1 | great importance, and it holds good at the meeting just opened more than ever before. It is now a course where it has I become absolutely impossible to take ! care of the vast number of horses that I are on hand for the racing. Long ago » all of the stables were completely filled, , and every available stall was engaged 1 within a wide radius of the course. For the opening day horses were I vanned in from Benning, Pimlico, Marlboro - and Laurel to fill their engagements. - And the course itself is well 1 equipped with stabling. Fortunately the 2 roads to Bowie are now in an excellent t condition for this way of transportation i of the horses, and each one leading to the racing grounds resembles a scene in i England, where the vans are largely f used for the transportation of the horses. i. In this connection it must be remembered - that the early closing rule and the e early scratching rule are enforced. One e of the objections made in New York for r a moving up of the entry time and the e scratch time was that the horses were trained ever other courses than that over which the racing was being conducted. 1. Trainers found it a hardship to make entries - at Belmont Park of horses that t were in training at Aqueduct or Jamaica, t and for the same reason they opposed a a change of the rule. This condition applies ,_ with much greater force at Bowie, ? for the Long Island courses are much n more adjacent than any of thoss training g grounds from which horses are transported •_ to Bowie. There is sure to be an improvement in n New York this year as far as the scratching [. of horses is concerned, for the associations ,. have all agreed to put on the e rule suggested by Joseph E. Widener, r which practically does away with ft scratches altogether, making it only possible H to scratch a horse for good reason n and by the consent of the stewards. With the coming of the vast number of horses for the opening of the Maryland 1j racing season at Bowie there also was IS observed the first appearance of some of the notable stables. Among these are the le colors of George D. Widener, who never ?r before was represented at the southern Maryland course. It will not be for lack of effort if one ie or another of the various gate devices are not put into use in Maryland this spring. g- There has been a promise that the Jarvis is gate will be tried out sometime before re the close of the present Bowie meeting, g. while it is more than likely that the [lg Waite gate, used at Jefferson Park, will "1 be used, at least for a trial at Havre de de Grace and possibly Pimlico. There have been various arguments ts for and against each one of the new w starting devices and it is well that they s b ,, a a V _ U ° of n t e C ., S a m c . t « I f I . s i i i I I 1 | I ! I » , 1 I - - 1 2 t i i f i. - e e r e 1. - t t a a ,_ ? n g •_ in n [. ,. e r should be given a trial before eithe.- * being adopted or rejected. The trial should be a fair one and in a sufficient number of races to offer opportunity for thorough test. In the meantime the various new contraptions are being improved, as each experiment with their use suggests changes and, if the theory starting the horses out of stall gates proves advantageous, it is safe to promise that the devices will profit by each of the experimental trials. Just now there is better than an even chance that before long — it may not be this year or it may not be next — there f will be some radical changes over the old i system of starting the races. Kentucky J and Maryland, and possibly Illinois, will offer the new devices a field for their j exploitation, while Tijuana and New Or- j leans have afforded opportunities for a t trial of the gates. There are merits in each one of the gates that have been i shown, but it is generally agreed that there is not one of them that meets every requirement. While the gates are having the chance , to prove their worth, there has come no suggestion of the adoption of any one of them for the New York courses. There ! will never come the stall gate just as i long as Mars Cassidy has his say in the starting of the horses. He has declared positively against the mechanical devices and in favor of the walk-up start. He will employ such a method for the coming racing season, and there seems to be a promise that it is a method that will show an improvement in his excellent work at the barrier. Of course, it may so happen that eventually some one of the new devices will become so superior to existing methods of starting that New York will be forced to adopt one or the other of them to keep up with the progress of the turf, but that cannot happen until such time as no doubt exists of the benefit of a change. R. A. Smith, who wintered the horses of Jefferson Livingston, as well as Admiral Graysons Strolling Player at the old Rose Farm in Maryland, is wrell pleased with the manner in which the horses have taken their early spring exercises. Of course, much of the interest centers about Strolling Player, which is engaged in both the Preakness Stakes of the Maryland Jockey Club, and the Kentucky Derby of the Churchill Downs Jockey Club. In speaking of this fashionable half brother tc Call Boy, Mr. Smith said that at this time he had shown several three- quarters workouts in 1:20, and that he was well pleased with the way the colt was coming along. Of course, he has not advanced far enough to form a defi- nite opinion, but the colt has adapted himself to the American conditions, American climate and the American tracks. He seems to have everything in his favor and, should he continue to ad-e vance in his training, there is good rea-r son to expect that he will probably take his place among the best three-year-olds of the year. — The manner in which Bob Smith , brought Jefferson Livingstons Son of John back to the races to enable him to win the ,000 Inaugural Handicap at " Bowie on Tuesday, speaks well not only t for his skill, but for the Maryland farm. It was at the Old Rose Farm that the ? son of Sir John Johnson was fitted for f his victory, and there certainly was I nothing to be required in his condition. incidentally, that first day of Maryland i racing brought it in with a brilliance that t augurs well for the new meeting.
