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« $ Here and There on the Turf Analyzing the Preakness. Victorian Was Best. Crop Appears Ordinary. Fame of Sporting Blood. 8 ■ * There will have to come some slight revisions of the estimates of the three-year-olds from the running of the Preakness Stakes. At the same time its result only served to show that the three-year-olds arc remarkably close together in the matter of racing ability, with no outstanding champion in sight among those that have been to the races. Victorian was best in the Preakness Stakes for the reason that he took up his weight, made the pace and then fought it out with the gameness for which the sons and grandsons of Broomstick are justly famous. But it cannot be forgotten that he made that crazy move in the Wood Memorial Stakes, and it cannot be forgotten that in the Wood Memorial Stakes Nassak was seemingly the better colt. Victorian has improved greatly while Nassak did not advance any. He was a bit unfortunate in the running of the race, but he was away-well enough, if he had possessed speed enough, to take a better position before the first turn was reached. The fact that Victorian carried all the load of making the pace and made Distraction and Strolling Player quit, then had enough left to withstand that rush of Toro through the stretch, proved his superior worth, and the early pace was fast. The Preakness Stakes may result in the Whitney colt being rated as best in the Kentucky Derby. He may be best, but there have been many years when there were better ones to oppose him. Altogether it would seem that Reigh Count, after all, may be the kingpin of them all. The Preakness Stakes just about exploded any idea of Brooms or Petee-Wrack having the ghost of a chance at Churchill Downs next Saturday. Petee-Wrack had no mishaps, while Brooms, while he may have had some, did not race like the Brooms that led Victorian home in the running of the Hopeful Stakes of last yeai. And as for Toro, his was a good race, but he had been saved from all strenuous early racing and he only made one rush at Victorian. As a matter of fact, from the eighth post to the finish he should have been the winner and he actually had his head in front for a couple of strides, but Workman never rode as well as he rode Victorian, while Ambrose, to say the least, was just a bit careless. And, by the way, the improvement shown by Toro was much greater than that shown by Victorian. Strolling Player does not seem to be a dangerous Derby candidate, but he will improve. Knapsack must be passed up and Sortie will have to improve greatly over his Preakness Stakes running if he is to have a chance. Bobashela was off badly, but did not show enough and, altogether, while the Preakness Stakes was a renewal of vast interest it did not serve as anything like an index of what to expect in the running of the Kentucky Derby. Bob Smith, who has managed and trained Strolling Player for Admiral Grayson in this country, still has high hopes for the English colt. He was shipped to Louisville on Sunday and will bj a sure starter in the Kentucky Derby, barring accident. Walter S. Vosburgh, in giving the Ran-cocas Stables Nassak the post of honor, at the top of the Southampton Handicap, rated him two pounds better than any three-year-old that has been shown, lropus, Gifford A. Cochrans swift running sprinter, is next on the list at 124 pounds and then comes another Ran-cocas colt in Ariel at 123. He is at the same notch with Distraction and the handicap then drops down to 120 as the Mowlee impost. Of course there are several of the eligibles that will not be on hand, for they will be on their way to Churchill Downs to start in the Kentucky Derby, but the weights for this mile and a sixteenth dash at Jamaica affords a Vosburgh line on the Derby chance of some of the eligibles. For instance, Nassak is rated three pounds better than Distraction, seven pounds better than Vito, ten pounds better than Taras Hall, eleven pounds better than Sortie, fourteen pounds better than Oh Say and at a greater weight difference than several others that have been mentioned as having a chance in the Kentucky Derby. That gives the handicap an additional interest at this time. Of course there are many more important Derby candidates than are found in the Southampton Handicap list, but as far as the ones earned are concerned the Vosburgh opinion puts Nassak well on top of all of them. Of course these weights were assigned before the running of the Preakness Stakes. Its result may change the Vosburgh opinion, but it must be agreed by those who saw Nassak race at Jamaica, and then at Pimlico, that he did not run his race in the Preakness Stakes. These Sporting Blood two-year-olds that R. H. Shannon has been showing from the Bud Fisher Stable seem to be speedy and undoubtedly they will bring fame to that good stallion as a sire. Altimeter, the son of Sporting Blood and Evil, and Glee Club, by the same sire, dam Mirthful, have both shown fine speed and there is good reason to expect they will go on to much greater things as the racing season progresses. And there is every reason for Sporting Blood to become one of the truly great American sires. He is a son of Fair Play and the Rock Sand mare Felicity and was bred by the late August Belmont. His blood lines closely resemble those of Man o War, for the Riddle champion is a son of Fair Play and also from a Rock Sand mare, Mahubah. Sporting Blood is not only a soundly bred horse, but he was a good race horse, as was evidenced in his three-year-old campaign, when he was the winner of the Latonia Championship Stakes at a mile and three-quarters. In that race he beat Black Servant, Humphrey, the great Grey Lag and Behave Yourself, a stablemate to Black Servant and winner of the Kentucky Derby of the same year. Now only in his tenth year, there should be a bright future for this horse and what he has accomplished thus far, with limited opportunities, makes him of great value to our breeding interests. I
