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Here and There on the Turf Some Derby Estimates. Will Reigh Count Go On? Nassak and Sublevado. Some of the Failures. « 8 All the workout talk that comes from Churchill Downs is more or less confusing to those who are endeavoring to reach a conclusion as to the prohablc 1 winner of the Kentucky Derby. One after another of the eligibles is credited with a gallop that is more or less impressive and no sooner has it bec?n reported than another comes along with a better move. In the meantime several of the candidates that have been raced, have shown enough to attract attention, while some 1 others have failed, and altogether, at this 1 time, there are a greater number of the 1 eligibles prominently mentioned than at the same time in other years. There ; have been few deflections by reason of £ candidates going amiss, and should I there come no training accidents within 1 the next two weeks the field should be I one of the largest in the history of the 5 famous race. Those who have been offering prices 5 on the Derby report that never before has there been so diversified backing, . and that is another reason to expect a i big field at post time. While Reigh Count continues the choice e in the future books it must be admitted 1 that any estimate on his chances is purely y on his accomplishments of last fall. Of I course, he went into winter quarters ■ looking like the proverbial million dollars." - lie has come from his winter retirement - apparently as good or better than when he was through last year. He e has done about all that trainer Michell II has asked him to do in a training way, , but there must be some question of just t how he will relish the mile and a quarter r until he has raced that far. Taking a a line through Sun Briar, and he is a son n of a brother to Sun Briar, the family is is _ n j] g c c 1 , t to f *• c E I * a j 1 i C j 1 1 1 1 ; £ I 1 I 5 5 . a i e 1 y I ■ - - e II , t r a a n is is _ not partial to long distance. A mile was * more to the liking of Sun Briar himself, and that goes for the best ones he has sent to the races. Reigh Count may race as far as any other three-year-old, but he has »ot shown any move in his exercises of a mile and a quarter and it is still problematical whether or not he will show advantage at full speed over such a j distance. Trainer Michell knows his colt and he has brought him up to his present condition admirably. He knows what he is about and is confident that Reigh Count will be ready for a mile and a at quarter on May 19, but it would be s more satisfying to all hands if the colt l to was tried over such a route before long. B i c As against Reigh Count, Misstep and t the others that have been training bril- to liantly at Churchill Downs, there are sev- f eral that have been racing in a way that possibly more than matches the progress , of the Churchill Downs colony. Of these I the Rancocas Stables Nassak seems to be s j one of the most impressive. He was only beaten in the Wood Memorial Stakes be- £ cause of being forced to the outside fence t by H. P. Whitneys Victorian and he was an easy winner of the Long Beach Han- dicap, his next race. He is one that j races in a fashion to suggest a readiness J and an ability to race the mile and a quarter. Sublevado, his stablemate, by c his easy defeat of two such fast ones as Ramoneur and Nusakan, at three-quarters, moved up materially and he is another that shapes up in a manner to j indicate an ability to go on for a mile : and a quarter. Reveries Gal, by her success in the Ashland Oaks at Lexington, proved that she has come back to the races a good filly and she is an eligible to the Derby. Victorian, though his crazy bolting in , the Wood Memorial Stakes is against him I as a dependable proposition, may be a much better colt than the race disclosed and he may be induced to stay in and show to much better advantage the next i time he is raced. Distraction, by reason of winning the , Wood Memorial Stakes, even though it ; was made possible by tho elimination of both Victorian and Nassak, must be given consideration, particularly if the Derby should be run over a muddy or heavy track. Tantivy, in the Whitney band and a Derby eligible, was not started last year, but he has won both of the sprinting races in which he has raced this year. He at least has a good turn of speed, though it is hardly likely that the stable will be represented by other than Victorian. Then there is The Tartar, another that has improved greatly and he is from the same stable. It was only a claiming handicap that t was won by Frederick Johnsons Replevin, but his was a truly good race, The son of Brown Prince II. and Tanais is probably the best of the four Brown Prince II. eligibles that are named for the Derby by Mr. Johnson. This horse was a maiden up to the time of his vic- tory on Thursday over My Son, Fine j Champagne, Rejuvenation anu the Eng-r I lish horse LAine, but he showed fine speed and will win other races. He appears to have the Brown Prince II. staying ability and stranger things have ? happened than his developing into one ■ of the really good three-year-olds of the j year. The others by the same sire that Mr. Johnson has in the Derby are Lane i Allen, Brown Wisdom and Old Black Joe. ■ George Sloans Brooms, winner of the j. Hopeful Stakes of last year, was beaten 1 i the first time he started as a three-year r I j old, but he followed that up with a vic-| tory at Pimlico at a mile and seventy ! ! I yards. In that race the son of Broomstick v j showed both speed and gameness when a after making all the pace and being 6 . | caught by Edisto in the stretch he out-| gamed him to the end. The race might * J easily have been a more impressive one, . I ! but Brooms must be seriously considered. | ■ Among others that have been tried in I races and found wanting might.be men- I I tioned Petee-Wrack, though he was a vic- I I tor over Brooms the first time trainer r | . Tompkins sent the George Sloan colt to 0 | | the post, Taras Hall and Sortie, both 1 I in the care of Max Hirsch, and earlier r ! considered as rather brilliant possibilities I as well as Knapsack and Strolling Player, I the pair to race for Adm. Cary T. »_ I Graysons Salubria Stable. j j It is possible that both Knapsack and | Strolling Player will return to favor | ! before the running of the big stakes, but it , • •J. Continued on twentieth rage. i s - — — f I HERE AND THERE i J ON THE TURF 4 Continued from second page. taking a line through the Dixie Handicap, J in which both of these colts raced, it is hard to give either one a really serious ] chance in either the Preakness Stakes or the Kentucky Derby. | When Mrs. Margaret Emerson Bakers Night Life ran such a good race with , Walter M. Jeffords Bateau at Havre de Grace, he loomed up as a candidate of ] some promise, but his defeat by both Solace and Sun Meddler, at Pimlico on | Thursday, certainly did not add to his i Derby or Preakness Stake prestige. I The racing of Thursday at Jamaica had I added interest in the riding of Pony" McAtee, Laverne Fator and Earle Sande. Each one of them showed all his old time I skill in the saddle and they continue ■ prime favorites with the racing crowd. It was fine to see McAtee back in the Whitney colors, made possible by the sus- , pension of "Sonny" Workman, and his riding of Tantivy, when he landed him winner for his old employer, was a fine . bit of horsemanship. Then with Mrs. Knapps Undercover, in the Olympic Claiming Stakes, he also displayed skill in waiting patiently behind Hypnotism. Incidentally, it should have been Laverne Fator and not McAtee that rede the two winners on Thursday, for it was only the roughest sort of racing luck that prevented Fator from bringing in Paragraph a winner instead of second to Undercover. His mount met with no end of misfortune in the running and it required no end of riding skill to have her race Undercover to a nose finish. Sandes winning mount on T. W. OBriens Virmar and in his riding there was the same cool head shown by this finished jockey, when he sat still while McGovern went to a frantic drive on Irish Holiday, while still having the lead. «
