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Here and There on the Turf Importance of Derby. Lesson That Is Taught. Big Races to Come. Passing of Whisk Broom IT. € — -§ It is almost impossible to overestimate the immediate value of such races as the Kentucky Derby in exalting and perpetuating the turf. It is a race that shows the sport in its best guise and a contest that each year attracts vast throngs of other than racegoers. It is educational in its appeal, for it brings racing of the best before those who know nothing of the sport. It is an event that must make the most hide-bound kill-joy see something after all in the greatest of all sports. If anything could make such a creature tolerant and human, the Kentucky Derby could accomplish that greatly-to-be-desired result. And the greatest importance in the good that is done for racing by this wonderful spectacle is that it is the horse and the race itself that brings together those gigantic gatherings. It is the horse and the spectacle that keeps the turf alive. Those who would drive out the sport, and consequently the thoroughbred horse, have ever preached that racing is merely a means for wholesale gambling and that devotees are headed on the straight road to perdition. That is why they should visit the Derby and learn the lesson that it preaches. Learn that there is a joy and a thrill to racing that is just as pure as any other thrill and a million times more tingling to all the citizens. Learn that it is not the gambling that brings together men and women from every corner of the country to witness this contest of the fleetest horses of the country. It is not for an instant admitted that there is any wrong in the backing of an opinion in a race, any more than there is wrong in backing the chances of a candidate for election, or the trend of the market, but that is only a sideline to racing and it is so magnificently demon-started on Derby Day that it is a wonderful day to place the turf in a propor light before those who do not know and may have been misinformed. The groat benefit that comes to the thoroughbred industry itself is too apparent to be exploited. It is a race for which breeders as well as the owners strive. To have produced a Derby winner brings instant fame to any breeding establishment. It is a gauge to determine best blood lines and suitable matings. From any angle this great fixture, which has been run continuously ever since 1875, is a tremendously big event. With the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes matters of history now, there are several big three-year-old races to come, the most notable of which is the Belmont Stakes, at a mile and a half, to be decided on June 9. It is unfortunate that on the same date the American Derby is to be run at the Arlington Heights course in Chicago and there are ether big races, but the Belmont Stakes, oldest of them all, has the greatest importance and will have the greatest value. The fact that the Belmont Stakes is at scale weight and over such a trying route, always assures that it will try the thoroughbred in all that is most to be desired. The winner has always had to be true-running and game. He must be built of the stuff from which champions are made, and it is a race that will discover any lack of speed, courage or stamina. The first requisite of a thoroughbred is speed and the second, as the famous Lord Bentinck said, is more speed. And this was eminently correct, for the acme of thoroughbred excellence is maintaining speed. Such a race as the Belmont Stakes, the American Derby or the La-tonia Derby and the Lawrence Realization Stakes, as well as some few others, are the demonstrators of maintained speed for the three-year-olds, just as the cup races for the older racers are well calculated to determine a championship. The untimely taking away of Whisk Broom II. is a severe loss to the American breeding interests. This son of Broomstick was one of the greatest race horses of his day and he carried his greatness into the stud, where he proved a worthy son of a great sire. The greatest race run by Whisk Broom II. was when he triumphed in the Suburban Handicap under 139 pounds. The records of that race credit Whisk Broom II. with running of one mile and a quarter in 2:00. It is a record that will always be questioned, but it will never be questioned that he took up 139 pounds and carried it to victory in that great mile and a quarter race. That was the contest that brought the racing career of this great horse to a conclusion, for he went amiss in preparation for his next engagement, which would have been in the Saratoga Handicap. His brilliant career began in England and he was not brought to this country until he was a six-year-old. The weight of 139 pounds, carried in the Suburban Handicap, was imposed because of his victories in both the Metropolitan Handicap and the Brooklyn Handicap in the same year. And his retirement to the stud meant only added fame when, year after year, his progeny carried on for him. Two of the latest to add fame to the family were Whiskery, winner of the Kentucky Derby of last year, and Victorian, which triumphed in the Preakness Stakes of this year. But one goes back just one generation to find the reason for the fame of Whisk Broom II. to that magnificent old veteran Broomstick, his sire, and still hale and hearty in his twenty-seventh year. No stallion has done more for American blood stock.
