view raw text
Here and There on the Turf Polydor the Sprinter. On the Mud Runners. Chasing at Pimlico. Quality of Ed Arlingtons Scat. $ 3 The manner in which William Ziegler, Jrs., Polydor won both the Initial and the Paumonok Handicaps, at once gives the son of Golden Broom real importance among the sprinters. Of course, the fact that ihe going was muddy for the Paumonok Handicap and not fast for the Initial Handicap, doubtless aided him considerably, but any horse that is capable of flying away from the barrier, as does Polydor, cannot fail to impress. Just how far Polydor will maintain his electric speed, remains to be seen, but in each of these three-quarters victories he was not tiring at the end and the good ones chasing him were as close after him at the head of the stretch as they were at the finish. Polydor has certainly inherited all the speed of his swift-running sire and the fact that he is such an easy winning colt through muddy going makes him doubly useful. He was not named for the Preakness Stakes or the Kentucky Derby and that is readily understood, for, as a two-year-old, he was unable to maintain his speed over considerable distances. At all four of the courses where racing is going on at this time, the going was either muddy or heavy from the rains that seemed to be countrywide. And. of course, that applied to Churchill Downs and Douglas Park, where some of the candidates for the Kentucky Derby are training. Then in Maryland, at Pimlico, as well as Havre de Grace, there was no chance for any Preakness Stakes workouts of importance. But one advantage of the muddy or heavy going is that it offers a chance for trainers to find out just how their charges will race through such going. Of course, no trainer will work a horse at high speed through difficult going, unless the work is imperative in the training program, but it is well to gallop a horse through muddy or heavy going to obtain a line on how he acquits himself in such going. And, in this connection, it is remarkable how many horses change from one year to another. The mud runner of one year may have lost all that mud running form, while the strictly fast track horse may change to a pronounced mud runner. There are various reasons for this, but the only way to find out whether or not a horse has changed is to try him through soft going. Some strains have been famous for mud running ability. It is an inherited accomplishment, but occasionally there is found a descendent from a mud-running strain that is unable to run well in such going. Then there are horses that really become mud runners because of leg or ankle infirmities. The hard dry track causes the bad legs to heat up and through the cool mud, with the added cushion, there is not the same discomfort. Other horses, and good ones, are so gaited, that they cannot stride ■ with confidence when the going is muddy or slippery. ■ One of these, and a notable one, was Hourless. He was one good horse to which muddy going was a great handicap. There was no question of the speed of Hourless. He was a horse of great speed and a horse of great gameness, but through soft or muddy going he was at a disadvantage that would enable any good mud runner, much inferior in speed, to take his measure. There was an entertaining taste of steeplechasing and hurdle racing at Aqueduct, in the two days of racing furnished by the United Hunts Racing Association, but it is expected that the cross-country division will be shown in much greater numbers with the opening i of the Pimlico meeting of the Maryland Jockey Club next Tuesday. , Pimlico has always brought out many j of the best jumpers and for the opening of the 1928 racing, the outlook is better than ever before. There have been more ! i jumpers in training through the winter months than ever before and reports have it that there will be more fit horses , to furnish entertainment. Among these 1 will be a number of importations, while ! many of the newly made jumpers have been showing enough in their workouts to warrant the hope that they will be right up among the veterans before long. I Bob Smith will come to the races with ! a big string of jumpers that will be raced t under the colors of Jefferson Livingston. J Seven of these are foreign bred, that i were imported last fall and for the most ■ part they were selections of "Specs" ! Crawford, who has aided largely in bring- i ing the band to racing condition. ] Then Matt Brady has a considerable number that are to bear the colors of Joseph E. Davis. These were wintered and schooled at the old Benning course i and have progressed famously all j through the winter. One green jumper in this band is Storm King, a high class sprinter in other years. He has taken , kindly to jumping and will ba ready when 1 called on, which will probably be during c, the Pimlico meeting. ] These are only two of many racing establishments that are awaiting the opening of the Pimlico meeting to show I their horses. Then after the Pimlico j meeting, the next jumping opportunities 1 will come at Belmont Park on Long Island and Woodbine Park, the Toronto course of the Ontario Jockey Club. Both i of these meetings will offer rich steeple- ! chase chances and, while several of the ■ I jumpers at Pimlico will be sent to Canada, many others will journey to Bel- | mont Park for the offerings of the Westchester Racing Association. When Edward Arlington bought Scat there were several horsemen who con- ; doled with him. Many were fixed in the cpinion that the son of Chicle — Sketchy was so unsound that he was anything but a good buy. But Edward Arlington thinks for himself, and he decided that Scat was a good buy. That he was eminently correct in his judgment has been proved by the campaigning of the colt. This cripple was started twenty-nine times last year and was ten times a winner, six times second and four times third. Rather a pleasing showing for a colt that would not stand training. He was only nine times out of the money in twenty-nine starts and his earnings i amounted to ,700. I Scat begun his 1928 racing well at j Jamaica, when he galloped home an easy winner over a mile and seventy yards | distance, to beat some good platers. He Avas valued at ,000 in that race and, was it not for his unsound underpinning he would be worth several times ,000.. In this, his firse race of i the year, he gave a performance to suggest that Frank Byer has brought him back a better colt than he was last year. He raced Manchu, one that had been seasoned by Maryland racing, into defeat, and then came on home to win with speed in reserve. It is natural to expect that Scat will improve over this, his first outing of the , year, and should his patched up legs stand the strain, he gives promise of again being one of the most consistent horses I in training. In the meantime he has adequately . justified the Arlington judgment in his purchase over the protests of [ many good judges. There is always the chance that Scat will go amiss in a race. That is an ever present danger in any horse with leg ; . infirmity, but just so long as he stands ■ training he will go on beating more of [ the good platers than, are capable of j beating him. J7
