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# $ Here and There on the Turf Lesson of the Wood. Nassak Was Best. Two-Year-Old Bargains. Scratching at Jamaica. 8 • It was truly unfortunate that the bolting of EL P. Whitneys Victorian, in the running of the Wood Memorial Stakes, at Jamaica on Saturday, should have made it a falsely run race, and there will always be a difference of opinion as to what would have been the result but for that happening. There were those who expressed the opinion that Distraction would have been the winner in any event, but it looked to many others as though the crazy swerving of Victorian robbed Nassak of the race. Fator was in a measure to blame for racing Nassak so close alongside Victorian through such slippery and treacherous going. It seemed through the glasses that Nassak was galloping so easily that he could have come away from Victorian before the happening. If Fator did not care to make his move so early in the race he surely would have found a safer berth if he had eased Nassak back and followed Victorian, rather than race alongside of him. Then Workman said after the race that Victorian had not taken a long breath up to the time he bolted to the outside. But it surely appeared that Nassak was going along with much more in reserve than I Victorian. Nassak was surely under restraint and it seemed to be only a question of when Fator called on him to have him head Victorian. . With these two leaders eliminated, of j course Distraction was an easy winner. . There was nc contest left, but it is doubtful . if he would have caught either one of the other two had they both run straight. Distraction is a rare mud runner. At least he was last year and it is remembered . that in the Flash Stakes at Saratoga . last year Distraction gave Nassak ten pounds and a beating over a heavy , track. Then in the United States Hotel Stakes, over a fast track, Nassak turned I the tables on Distraction, and defeated I him again, at only one pound difference , in weight, in the Grab Bag Handicap. Both of these victories were scored by Nassak over fast going and it was agreed I that it was the heavy going in the Flash Stakes that had given Distraction his . winning advantage. In the Wood Memorial Stakes the colts , were meeting under equal weights and I . Nassak did not appear to be bothered by the muddy going. He had the advantage of some seasoning by racing, and Distraction has a better chance to improve, 1 but altogether Nassak shapes up as the probable master of Distraction and, at this time, he looms up as a Kentucky-Derby eligible that must be seriously-considered. | Victorian had a considerable pull in the weights in the Wood Stakes and if he has become a habitual bolter, of course, his stock will slump for the Kentucky feature. The two two-year-old stake winners of f last Saturday, Click, which won the Aberdeen - Stakes for E. M. Bycrs, and Cyrano, , winner of the Colorado Stakes for Wil-lliam ■ Ziegler, Jr., were both yearling bargains from the Saratoga sales. . . , I I , I . , I . 1 | f - , ■ Click was sent to the market by Phil Chinn and he was purchased by Mr. Byers for 5,000. He has only been raced twice at Havre de Grace and was returned the winner on both occasions. His first was an overnight offering, but his second, the Aberdeen Stakes, had a net value to the winner of ,725. And Click will win many another important race before the end of his present cam-, paign. Cyrano was marketed by A. B. Han-, cock. He is a son of Jim Gaffney and Cyrene that went to Mr. Ziegler for ! ,000. The Colorado Stakes was only I his second start and its net value to the winner was ,900, surely making him a bargain colt. There is general regret that Walter J. Salmons great campaigner Display should have gone amiss almost on the eve of the running cf the 5,000 Dixie Handicap. This good horse came out of his recent race a bit lame and it was de- cided that he would not be sent in the big Pimlico handicap. Display had been training excellently for Tom Healey and his progress towards the Dixie Handicap made his chances for victory second to none. It is a bitter disappointment to have him sent into re- J tirement at this time, but Healey is wise in not taking a chance with such a horse so early in the racing season and with so many other rich engagements to come. There was some excuse for scratching ! I J at Jamaica on Saturday, but hardly excuse enough for thirty-nine horses being withdrawn from a six race card, that only contained the names of seventy-four horses. In other words, from the original entry list there were thirty-nine scratched and only thirty-five raced. This meant that in two of the races only three horses w?nt to the post. In these one had attracted eleven and the other nine entries. Another entry list of eighteen was scratched down to six starters and a promise of sixteen only brought nine under colors. The other two were not |so bad when an entry of eight brought out six runners and another of a dozen brought eight to the post. This was not playing the game as it should be played. The Metropolitan Jockey Club has been j unfortunate in. the weather right from ! the beginning of its Jamaica meeting and ! on Saturday, when there was a chance for some measure of success, and a won- i derful program had been prepared, the weather was just at its worst. The club favored the trainers unusually in not ; putting on the no-scratch rule and there i i certainly should have been more help i ! from the horsemen whose desires were ■ j consulted. Admitting that some of the horses that : .jwere scratched on Saturday were better • | in the barn with the mudfly going pre-| • vailing, there was no excuse for the I j wholesale withdrawals from three of the ; i races. The largest field of the day was, : ; i i ■ : • • I ; : in the Wood Stakes, but that was a j 0,000 added race. The other stake race was the Colorado Stakes, with six! starters, but the races that were riddled were races that appealed to a much! greater number of horses and particu- | larly the first race, for cheap platers,; should surely have brought about a bet-j ter contest. The Metropolitan Jocke7i Club has done too much for the trainers J and they seem to do nothing whatever toil show an appreciation of that considera- tiou. *
