view raw text
G ■• Here and There on the Turf I , i i is Havre de Grace Is Next. t Conference of Breeders. « On Juvenile Racing. a Kentucky Claiming Rule. g — — « c With the closiag of the most successful spriug meeting ever given at the a Bowie course, interest and attention is t centered on the opening of the Havre de t Grace meeting on Monday. Bowie was I Messed with better weather than has been the general rule for racing there, but there were some days that brought ■ memories of other meetings when bleak l cold and rain or snow was the usual order. Through the eleven days the i smallest attendance was larger than the , greatest of but a few years ago, and I James F. OHara and his associates , I surely began the 1928 racing year auspiciously. i The big event of the Havre de Grace opening, as usual, is the Harford Handicap, at three-quarters, a race that has always brought out a notable field. It has an added money value of 0,000, making it well worth while for which to fit the good ones. Bernard Baruchs swift-running im-ported sprinter Happy Argo holds the post of honor at the top of the handicap, with 128 pounds as his burden, and just four pounds under him comes Walter M. Jeffords Scapa Flow, winner of the Futurity of 192§ . This colt was considered I as possibly the most brilliant of all the i three-year-old prospects at this time las* ear but, by reasoi- of leg infirmities, he raced seldom and failed utterly. Scapa a Flow has, according to reports, been entirely cured of his disabilities and he has g been training well for Boott Harlan this ■ spring. There are high hopes that he will show the form that made him a leader among the two-year-olds of two years ago. From Scapa Flow the Harford Handicap weights drop down to 117 pounds, " the weight assigned E. R. Bradleys Buddy Bauer, winner of the Fairmount Derby of last year when he turned the m tables on Whiskery, winner of the Kentucky Derby. Mrs. Margaret Emerson Bakers Rock Man is in under 114, just two pounds more than the Seagram Stables consistent Edisto. Other notables are found under lesser weights, and the list is one that should easily sustain the best Harford Handicap traditions. John O. Williams, of the horse husbandry ;" department of the Deparmtent of * Agriculture, is arranging for a conference " of horse breeders that will be called d together before long. The chief aim of f this conference is to discuss the breeding i- of thoroughbred horses, as well as s the most advantageous racing to conserve, i- protect and improve the breed. It is proposed, at this conference, to 0 invite the views of the foremost breeders "s with, of course, the main object in view H of improving the breed of horses for r army and other uses. The thoroughbred •d horse has been generally agreed upon as the strain best calculated to improve the W I i i is t « a c a t t I ■ l i , I , I i I i a g ■ a " m ;" of * " d of f breed, so that the conference will virtually be a thoroughbred conference. Racing is the only test of the thoroughbred, and the winning post the standard, but some racing does not offer a proper standard and the winning post has less importance. That is a question that will be taken up, and possibly one of the most vital questions will be the early racing of the two-year-olds. This is a form of racing that is readily blamed for the early breaking down of many horses and, not only the winter racing of the two-year-olds, but the excessive racing of the young horses tends to bring an early breakdown. All that could be accomplished by this proposed conference is the passing of resolutions of suggestion to the various associations, regarding the conduct of their racing but, coming from such a gathering, they should have great weight. Even after the conclusion of the winter racing the two-year-old that meets the many engagements that are possible through the spring, summer and fall, will be subjected to a campaign that, to say the least, is a severe one. This comes from the number of rich races that are offered by the associations. It is fitting that the stake races for two-year-olds, in the fall of the year, should have a becoming value, but such inviting races in the spring and early summer frequently bring about the racing of immature colts and fillies. This a matter that is up to the racing associations and long has been, and, of course, it would be impossible to bring about any change unless they should all concur. As a matter of fact the best thing that could be accomplished for the American turf would be to have a common interest for all racing sections. A close bond and close working agreement, all through the country, would give racing a stability that has never before been possessed. Some of the best turfmen have worked diligently to bring this about, but it has been an unavailing work and sometimes there is reason for fear that it will never be brought about. This two-year-old racing feature is only one of many subjects that will be discussed at the breeders" conference, and it is a meeting from which much good is expected. At the Lexington meeting a new track rule will be put into effect by which the minimum claiming price in any such race will be ,000. Formerly it was possible I to enter a horse as cheaply as 00. Of course, this means that to claim a , horse the purse must be added to the 1 valuation placed on the thoroughbred, , and it does not mean that the horse is , valued so cheaply. It is well that Lexington has arranged | a higher minimum on the value of the cheapest horse, but it would be better • still to adopt the rule whereby the actual I claiming price would be shown on the program, without going into the trouble i of adding the purse to that figure. The simplicity of that rule commends it to claiming races, while, at the same time, it gives the horse itself an apparent greater value. To the casual racegoer r who does not know the workings of the Kentucky claiming rule, with the addition of purse money to the price at which a horse is entered, a cheap valuation 1 creates a wrong impression of the value 1 of the thoroughbred horse. It is so much 1 easier to enter a horse for ,500 or r ,500, when that is his real value, than j to enter him for ,000 and, by adding the a purse money, bring the price up to the 2 actual valuation. Kentucky, of all states, should give the thoroughbred every dignity and a change of that rule, so easily made, would add to his apparent valuation with the racing i crowd. It would also do away with the annoyance " of figuring up just at what price a | horse should be entered Avhen, with the addition of the purse money, his actual 1 valuation is reached. Kentucky has given racing many an important rule of the turf, but in this ■ claiming price regulation it appears that t a change could readily be made that t would be worth considering.
