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Here and There on the Turf Three -Year -Old Muddle. Nassak Makes Good. Scapa Flows Speed. Illinois Season Opens. $ ■ f It matters not hew many three-year-olds are shipped from the East to have a try for the Kentucky Derby, it is ?oing to be something of a task to bring the big prize away from the Middle West. Just now Mrs. John Hertz Reigh Count and Misstep, from the Le Mar Stable of L. J. Marks, are attracting as much attention in their exercise as are many of the other eligiblcs in their actual racing. Should these colts meet with no training interruption they are sure to be stubborn defenders against any invasion from the East. There is a friendly rivalry in the training camps of Reigh Count and Misstep and Mose Lowenstein. trainer of the last named colt, has intimated that in the course of the training of his charge he would be willing to arrange a private match some morning. Michell will not be led into any such a match, when he has so much at stake with Reigh Count and the son of Sun-reigh continues favorite everywhere that prices are quoted on the Kentucky Derby. Seldom, if ever before, has there been a like number of Derby eligibles that have a following. Admitted that Reigh Count has been the solid choice ever since the entries were made public, he has never been rated as really a "standout" for the race. Some one of the many had to be the choice and he is the one, but in all discussions of the probable result of the big Churchill Downs race there are at least a dozen others that have every qualification for victory. All of this, while it tends to show that the whole crop is not up to the highest standard, also gives promise of a great contest for both the Preakness Stakes 1 and the Kentucky Derby. Both should be great races just because no one candi- 1 date appears to be a standout with established prominence over the others. Either Reigh Count or Misstep may prove real champions, when they are sent, to the post, but if there is to be a real champion three-year-old this year it has not yet been developed. When Nassak was such an easy winner of the Long Beach Handicap, at Jamaica on Tuesday, there was further evidence that it was only his being forced out by Victorian in the running of the Wood Memorial Stakes, that prevented him . from winning that race. The Long Beach Handicap brought a performance that ■ surely earned the son of John P. Grier , a right to have a try for the Preakness i Stakes at Pimlico on May 11 and the 5 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on j May 19. He was giving away both years ! and weight to two such good trial horses as Sauford and Copiapo in the Long I Beach Handicap and he was at no time : really extended. I Last year Nassak was a high class colt • and, particularly during the August rac- . ing at Saratoga Springs he proved himself. He has come back a truly good t three-year-old and as far as public performance is concerned there does not appear to be any colt more fittingly eligible to the spring stake races. Mike Hall, the record maker of last year, proved himself in the running of the rich Dixie Handicap at Pimlico on Tuesday. It gave him a start of 4,975 for his four-year-old campaign and he will build that up materially before he is through. Taking nothing away from the son of Hourless, a word must be said of Walter M. Jeffords Scapa Flow, which was away from the races nearly all through his last year. He was giving Mike Hall ten pounds and he was the one to carry all the burden of making the pace for that mile and three-sixteenths, to only be beaten a length by a gelding that had taken full advantage of that fast pace, by being saved to make one winning rush. Scapa Flow had the others come at him in relays. He put Strolling Player away and the English three-year-old hung on for a considerable part of the distance. He disposed of Knapsack, Buddy Bauer and Jock, and the wonder of it is that, with such coming at him one after another, he had enough left to make a gallant struggle against the Mike Hall rush and only lose by a length. Brown Flash and Sir Harry were two others that were benefited greatly by the fast early pace and Brown Flash, in particular, again gave evidence of being a rare stayer, when after being far back in the running, he closed a big gap to finish fourth. He is surely one that will have to be seriously considered over a cup route. The racing has come to Illinois for the 192S season with the Tuesday opening of the Aurora course. From a modest beginning some years back Clifford Trimble and his associates have built the Aurora meeting into one of real importance. The opening this year told eloquently of the way the sport has grown. Of course, legalizing racing in the state was a tremendously big thing for the turf, but the passage of the Lager Law would have been impossible had it not been that the brand of racing was worthy of protecting enactment. Aurora is entitled to much praise for : the part it played in the reestablishment • of the thoroughbred in the state of " j Illinois, after it had been banished for so j many years. It affords an entertaining , [ curtain raiser for the more pretentious 1 j meetings in Chicago, where racing has i J been brought back to a plane as high as ! ever flourished in the eld days of the | racing at Washington Park. j In all of this Aurora played its part I j and the patronage that is accorded this . i meeting shows a proper appreciation of [ | | the club and its entertainment. Elaborate preparations are going for-! I ward for the June meeting of the Con-| ; naught Park Jockey Club at Ottawa. I J | Many of the preparations have to do with 1 | the social end of the sport and the prom- - , attendance, in state, of Lord and 1 Lady Willingdon is of vast importance. Lord Willingdon, who is governor-general Iised of Canada, has donated a cup for a 1 race which is to bear his name. This 5 t interest taken «in the turf has a wonderful f effect for the good of racing and it t , I lends additional importance to the Con- .! naught Park Jockey Club. v
