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*-- - i — - - •r . — . $ Here and There on the Turf Anita Peabodys Class. Mrs. Hertz Strong Hand. Failure of Nassak. Return of Sun Edwin. • — 1 If there had been any lingering doubts fibout the continued good form of Mrs. John Hertz Anita Peabody, they were surely removed when that queenly filly raced at Churchill Downs on Friday. She was only meeting fillies, and it was only a dash of three-quarters, but the manner in which she galloped home was truly impressive. It proclaimed that the daughter of Luke McLuke and La Dauphine has been brought back by trainer Mitchell the same brilliant filly that she proved herself last year when she topped all the horses in money earning. It tended to show that there was no fluke in her victory over the best of the colts when she was winner of the Futurity at Belmont Park last September. Reigh Count continues to attract most of the attention among the Derby candidates and with such a filly in the same stable, Mrs. Hertz surely holds a wonderful hand for the three-year-old stake races that are to come. Right now it would be possible to send Anita Peabody after the Derby, should Reigh Count, for any last minute reason, be unable to make the post. It would also be possible to send both to the post next Saturday with a brilliant chance of taking both first and second money, as E. R. Bradley did a few years back with Bubbling Over and Bagenbaggage. With the coming of the eastern three-year-olds to Churchill Downs from New York and Maryland there will also come a fever of interest in the Kentucky Derby. Their assembling at Churchill Downs will afford new chances to study the relative merits of each one and every real trial will be watched with keen interest. With eighteen racing in the Preakness Stakes, the largest field in the history of that old race went to the post, but for the Kentucky Derby the field should be even larger, if weather and track conditions be favorable. Many of those that raced on Friday at Pimlico will be afforded another chance at Churchill Downs on Saturday, while many others that dodged the Preakness Stakes will go to the post at Louisville. Whether or not the crop of three-year-olds is a good or a bad one, the Kentucky Derby seems to be* as much an open race as ever before and that is reason enough for the promise of an immense field. It was little short of a calamity that George Sloans Brooms fell so badly lame in the Preakness Stakes that he was a pulled up last. Gwyn Tompkins had high hopes for the son of Broomstick earlier in the spring, while he seemed to have a worthy running mate for the Hopeful Stakes in Bludgeon, a son of Cudgel that was reserved for three-year-old racing. Bludgeon began his three-year-old training brilliantly, but he went amiss before being brought to the races. The loss of the use of two such colts, right at the beginning of the season is indeed a stroke of misfortune for the Brookmeade Stable. It is natural that there should come excuses for this or that horse after the running of any big race and the Preakness Stakes brought the usual number of excuses. It was argued that the going was too cuppy to be exactly to the liking of Nassak and after his poor showing he was shipped back to New York instead of Churchill Downs, where he would have been sent had he run a better race. It is admitted that Nassak did not stride with the boldness and freedom that he has shown in his good races, and the track condition may have bsen the reason, but it is more likely that the son of John P. drier had gone off slightly. The sire of this colt was a notably delicate horse himself and he never entirely came back from his notably hard race with Man o War in the Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct. It may be that Nassak has inherited the same delicate constituiton I and that he will not thrive with h!s races i coming close together. Sun Edwin, the three-year-old son of Sun Briar and Edwina, that was purchased from Willis Sharpe Kilmer, last August, by W. Averill Harriman for his Arden Farms Stable, has made good at the first asking. When it was found that Sun Edwin had not been named for either the Preakness Stakes or the Kentucky Derby there was a fear in some quarters that the colt had gone amiss, or that it was agreed that he did not measure up to such races. It may be that Sun Edwin is only a sprinter, but he is at least a good sprinter, as his first race of the year will testify. No soft spot was picked by trainer Smith to bring Sun Edwin to the post i this year when he was started against ! Algernon, Mi Vida and Sublevado to nee three-quarters. He gave each con-i siderable weight when he took up 124 pounds and ran a fast race when he covered three-quarters in 1:12. Even should he be reserved for sprinting, he gives I promise of being a thoroughly good buy.! This race was an excellent final for! the engagement of Sun Edwin in the Toboggan Handicap of the Westchester Racing Association. This old three-quarters dash, which now takes the place of the Metropolitan Handicap, as the opening feature of the Belmont Park meeting, is to be decided on Thursday. Sun Edwin will have the five-year-old Chance Play for a running mate in the Toboggan Handicap and the manner in which Church Play has been training will make Mr. Harrimans chance for victory exceedingly bright. It was Chance Play that was its winner last year and he won under an impost of 128 pounds. Right now he seems to be back to his form of last year and that should be good enough to enable him to repeat. Sun Edwin is also an eligible to the Withers Stakes, at a mile, to be run at Belmont Park on Saturday. The fact that the Withers is run on the same day as the Kentucky Derby of course will result in many of the notable eligibles being in Kentucky, but there are enough of them at Belmont Park and other Long Island training grounds to make the renewal a worthy one, and that may be the next goal for Sun Edwin, with Chance Play depended upon to repeat his 1927 victory in the Toboggan Handicap.
